Carpio says ‘provisional understanding between Manila, Beijing should not expand to other features in West PH Sea | ABS-CBN

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Carpio says ‘provisional understanding between Manila, Beijing should not expand to other features in West PH Sea

Carpio says ‘provisional understanding between Manila, Beijing should not expand to other features in West PH Sea

Bianca Dava,

ABS-CBN News

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The presence of the China Coast Guard (CCG) persists despite the effort of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) to block them and assist the four main vessels of the second civilian resupply mission of the Atin Ito Coalition to the Bajo de Masinloc or Panatag Shoal in the West Philippine Sea on May 15, 2024. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News/FileThe presence of the China Coast Guard (CCG) persists despite the effort of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) to block them and assist the four main vessels of the second civilian resupply mission of the Atin Ito Coalition to the Bajo de Masinloc or Panatag Shoal in the West Philippine Sea on May 15, 2024. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News/File

MANILA -- Former Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said the “provisional understanding” between Manila and Beijing on the rotation and resupply mission to Ayungin Shoal should not be expanded to cover other features in the West Philippine Sea. 

According to Carpio, the provisional understanding should be “unique and temporary” and should end soon. 

“I’m worried that this provisional agreement will be taken by China that they have some sort of control over our rotation and resupply missions. They do not have. We do not need to inform them if we are going to conduct a RoRe because it is in our exclusive economic zone,” Carpio said in a forum on the West Philippine Sea in Quezon City on Wednesday. 

“I can see what China will do now. Let us expand this agreement to the entire West Philippine Sea. No, we cannot. Because, otherwise, we will be giving up our sovereign rights,” he added. 

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The Philippines and China upheld this understanding—which allows Manila’s RoRe missions to the BRP Sierra Madre—during the 10th Bilateral Consultation Mechanism (BCM) on the South China Sea on January 17. 

But Carpio expressed concern that if Manila gives Beijing “a little leeway, they will demand more.” 

“China will use this as an example to expand this agreement to the rest of the West Philippine Sea,” Carpio said. “In practice, on the ground there, every time we go there, we first have to talk to China, and that is a matter of practice.” 

Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Commodore Jay Tarriela emphasized that the provisional understanding only covers Ayungin Shoal. 

“It doesn’t apply to the entire WPS. There’s no provisional understanding whatsoever that covers the entire WPS,” he stressed. 

“We should not come up with the idea that another understanding will also be applied in different features of the WPS… I don’t think it will be a win for the Philippine government if we’re going to have another provisional agreement with China because we just want to de-escalate the tension,” Tarriela added. 

“In the first place, the escalation, the provocative actions that are happening in the WPS are only done by the Chinese side. As far as the government is concerned, we have been very peaceful. We are not provocative. We are always on the receiving end of their provocation,” he further said. 

Meanwhile, contrary to what Carpio said, National Security Council Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya said the Philippines does not need to seek China’s permission to conduct its RoRe missions. 

“Let me just make it very clear to the public: There is no permission, there is no inspection, and there is no supervision whatsoever,” Malaya said, adding that Manila only notifies Beijing. 

“What brought the freedom of understanding was the fact that the PRC realized that we will never back down. The PRC realized that we will continue to supply our troops no matter what happens… that’s why they tried every playbook in the coercive manual that they have, and it did not work because we continued to do what we needed to do,” he continued.

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