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How much did PH pay for foreign lawyers in case vs China?

Published by Ellen on July 21, 2016

(I did this article for VERA Files.)

The government paid $7 million in legal fees to the international team that gave the Philippines its landmark victory against China over the disputed features in the South China Sea, a member of the Philippine delegation to The Hague hearings said.

The source who asked for anonymity said the $7 million was a ceiling in lawyers’ fees the government of President Benigno Aquino III insisted on, having learned a costly lesson from the case against the Philippine International Air Terminals Co. (Piatco) where, under an open-ended agreement, the lawyers’ fees reached $65 million.

The Philippines was represented in the two-and-a half year litigation by Foley Hoag LLP. The case against China was filed with the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands on January 22, 2013.

Counsel for the Philippines Paul S. Reichler. Photo from Permanent Court of Arbitration.

The $7 million (P328,996,500 at P47 to $1) was the third ceiling set, more than 65 per cent higher than the original contract fee of $4,212,000 agreed upon in December 2012 by then Solicitor General and now Supreme Court Associate Justice Francis Jardeleza and Paul S. Reichler of Foley Hoag.

Questions remain about some senator winners in May election

Published by Ellen on July 20, 2016

Sen. Serge Osmeña. Photo by Josh Lim (Sky Harbor)

When 17th Congress opens on July 25, the Senate will have a new set of 12 legislators -winners of the senatorial race in the recent May 9 elections.

Not all are new faces in the Senate because there were re-electionists like Franklin Drilon, Tito Sotto, and Ralph Recto. There were also the balik-Senado, former senators who ran again like Panfilo Lacson, Richard Gordon, Francis Pangilinan, and Miguel Zubiri.

The first timers are boxing champ Manny Pacquiao; Risa Hontiveros, who is dubbed as the Senate’s Pia Wurtzbach because like the 2015 Miss Universe, she made it to the Senate on her third attempt; TESDAman Joel Villanueva; former Justice Secretary Leila de Lima; and former Valenzuela (1st district) Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian.

They join the 12 other senators whose term will be ending in 2019. Four of the last termers ran for vice presidebt last election but lost: Alan Peter Cayetano, Franciz Escudero, Gregorio Honasan, and Antonio Trillanes IV. One, Grace Poe, was not successful in her presidential bid.

The rest of the members of the 17th Senate are Loren Legarda,Aquilino Pimentel III, Cynthia Villar, JV Ejercito ,Sonny Angara,Bam Aquino, and Nancy Binay.

FVR wants to clarify role as special envoy to China

Published by Ellen on July 17, 2016

Former President Fidel V. Ramos with Vietnam Ambassador Truong Trieu Duong and Madame Dinh Thi Thu Huong.

Former President Fidel V. Ramos said there are some things he has to discuss with President Duterte before he agrees to be the latter’s special envoy to China.

Duterte made the announcement during a tribute to him by his fellow Bedans at Club Filipino in Greenhills last Thursday and Ramos said, “It was noisy, there was no time to talk about it.”

Ramos said he is elated by Duterte’s confidence in him for the important job of repairing relations with China especially in the wake of the humiliation that had been rendered by the Permanent Court of Arbitration to the Asian behemoth in the case filed by the Philippines against its nine-dash lines and other activities in the Spratlys. But he said he is 88 years old.

China avoids criticizing PH, hits Arbitral court

Published by Ellen on July 14, 2016

Take note that in China’s reaction to the decision of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the case filed by the Philippines against its all-encompassing nine-dash-line map and its claim of maritime rights over Scarborough Shoal and the Spratlys, it hit the Tribunal, not the Philippine government.

Definitely, not President Rodrigo Duterte.

If this sets the tone for post-Decision Philippine-China relations, there’s a good chance that talks on the disputed waters will achieve something positive.

Duterte had the good sense of letting Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay issue the statement who simply welcomed the decision and called for restraint and sobriety.

Yasay was heavily criticized by not looking happy over the decision that was overwhelmingly in favor of the Philippines.

The South China Sea Arbitration: the Philippines’ Nicaraguan moment

Published by Ellen on July 14, 2016

The judges: Thomas A. Mensah (President), Jean-Pierre Cot, Stanislaw Pawlak, Alfred H. Soons, Rüdiger Wolfrum

By Romel Regalado Bagares

And so the Philippines has just had its Nicaraguan moment as it clinched a unanimous decision in most of its 15 arbitral claims against Chinese “Nine-Dash Line” expansionism in the South China Sea.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration, in a landmark ruling released July 12 on the case In the Matter of the South China Sea Arbitration (it’s formal name, also referred to here as the Philippine Case), invalidated China’s claims over pretty much of the maritime areas in the region.

The Arbitral Court also clarified in favor of the Philippines the status of many features in the contested Spratly islands and Scarborough Shoal with both scientific and legal criteria, in relation to a resource-rich Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and Continental Shelf.

The win recalls an earlier and similar David versus Goliath seminal ruling by an international tribunal, the case filed by Nicaragua against the United States in 1984, which was decided by the International Court of Justice in 1986. Here, the United States was sued by Nicaragua before the World Court over the former’s promotion of Low Intensity Conflict and direct military action in its territory through the mining of its harbors.

Key wins for the Philippines

PH wins: Arbitral court invalidates China’s 9-dash line

Published by Ellen on July 12, 2016

China's 9-dash line map — China’s 9-dash line map

The Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled today that China’s all-encompassing nine-dash line is not valid.

(To read the 501-page Award, please click to this site: https://pca-cpa.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/175/2016/07/PH-CN-20160712-Award.pdf)

“The Tribunal found that China’s claim to historic rights to resources was incompatible with the detailed allocation of rights and maritime zones in the Convention and concluded that, to the extent China had historic rights to resources in the waters of the South China Sea, such rights were extinguished by the entry into force of the Convention to the extent they were incompatible with the Convention’s system of maritime zones,” the decision said.

The Tribunal concluded that there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to resources, in excess of the rights provided for by the Convention, within the sea areas falling within the ‘nine-dash line

Inspired by Duterte’s anti-drug campaign, solons propose state-run crematoriums

Published by Ellen on July 12, 2016

AKO Bicol representatives. Proponents fro state-run crematoriums.

Inspired by the spate of killings which is an offshoot of President Duterte’s campaign against illegal drugs, three congressmen proposed building a crematorium in every legislative district.

The proposal, contained in House Bill No. 135 authored by AKO Bicol party list Representatives Rodel Batocabe, Alfredo Garbin, and Christopher Co, is reminiscent of Nazi Germany more than 80 years ago, when Adolf Hitler waged a campaign to eliminate the Jews.

More than 20 million were killed in the 12-year reign of terror. Gas chambers and crematoriums were built to hasten the killings and the disposal of dead bodies.

News reports about the bill quoted Batocabe as saying, “Should President Duterte stay true to his mission to eliminate drug pushers by hook or by crook, our cemeteries will definitely be filled to the brim and the crematories will greatly help in this regard.”

The pitfalls of joint development of Spratlys with China

Published by Ellen on July 10, 2016

It’s best that Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. study carefully the intricacies of joint exploration with China so he can advise President Rodrigo Duterte to go slow about it.

Yasay, in his clarification about what he said in an interview with Agence France Presse last week, said, ““As the ruling will not address sovereignty and delimitation, it is possible that some time in the future, claimant countries might consider entering into arrangements such as joint exploration and utilization of resources in disputed areas that do not prejudice the parties’ claims and delimitation of boundaries in accordance with Unclos (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea).”

Even if the Philippines gets a favorable ruling Tuesday on the issues they raised against China before the Permanent Court of Arbitration, there would still be a lot of complications about joint development of the disputed areas in the South China Sea.

The number one problem is China’s concept of “setting aside dispute and pursuing joint development.”

One of the resource materials on the issue in the website of the China’s Foreign Ministry, says “The concept of setting aside dispute and pursuing joint development has the following four elements: 1. The sovereignty of the territories concerned belongs to China. 2. When conditions are not ripe to bring about a thorough solution to territorial dispute, discussion on the issue of sovereignty may be postponed so that the dispute is set aside. To set aside dispute does not mean giving up sovereignty. It is just to leave the dispute aside for the time being. 3. The territories under dispute may be developed in a joint way. 4. The purpose of joint development is to enhance mutual understanding through cooperation and create conditions for the eventual resolution of territorial ownership.”

Families of desaparecidos pin their hopes on Duterte

Published by Ellen on July 10, 2016

In search of Jonas Burgos. From the docu, The terror of the unhead voice

Former President Benigno Aquino III disappointed them. They are now pinning their hopes on what seemed years ago as the most unlikely person to be on their side: President Rodrigo Duterte.

The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances or AFAD is requesting for a dialogue with the new president on the issue of forced disappearances.

Forced disappearance is an aberration because it defies the natural cycle of life which begins with birth and ends with death. Vanishing from the face of the earth is not normal.

But that’s what happened to many individuals in this world and in the Philippines the well-known names among them are peasant organizer Jonas Burgos, and UP students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno.

Unsolicited advice to Robredo: Lead opposition

Published by Ellen on July 5, 2016

Update: Robredo is Housing Secretary. http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/794933/hello-maam-leni-duterte-offers-robredo-housing-post-via-phone-call

Gil Ramos, who monitors what’s going on in the Philippines, especially political happenings from the United States where he is based, wrote me his view that it is better that Vice President Leni Robredo is not part of the Duterte cabinet.

Vice President Leni Robredo pays a courtesy call on President Duterte. Photo by King Rodriguez, Malacañang Photo Bureau.

I share his view. A democracy can only be vibrant if there’s a strong opposition.

In fact, I cannot understand, the fuss by the Mar Roxas- Leni Robredo supporters about the VP not being appointed to a cabinet position. The President is not obliged to give Robredo a cabinet post and he has already explained why — he is concerned about the feelings of Ferdinand Marcos, Jr, the closest opponent of Robredo. There are other reasons like the friendship of his father to late president, Ferdinand Marcos, as well as the support of the Marcoses to him last election.

Duterte is planning to give Marcos a cabinet position after the one-year ban on candidates who lost in the last May elections and it would indeed be awkward for Robredo and Marcos to be working together under Duterte.

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