Make China accountable for COVID-19

As the courts reopen for redress of grievances, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) should start mulling ways to seek recompense for the Filipino people from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) which, either by deliberate intent or culpable negligence, caused the spread of COVID-19 around the world. This deadly disease from Wuhan, China, has brought untold miseries upon this poor country that are by now immeasurable and irreparable.

There is preponderant evidence available worldwide that the CCP had covered up the outbreak within China in the months of December 2019 and January 2020, in blatant disregard of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) written protocols on health hazards and diseases that could raise concerns of pandemic proportions.

Thousands of lives might have been spared had that virus been properly contained from the get-go in accordance with the rules of the WHO. Independent scientists from around the world were snookered by the CCP propaganda that everything was copacetic and outside interference uncalled for.

Our Rules of Court allow suits against foreign individuals, companies, firms, or entities doing business in this country (Rule 14, Sections 12 and 15). The Securities and Exchange Commission can confirm what and where these Chinese companies are. Their assets here could amount to trillions of pesos. It is public knowledge that Chinese companies doing business anywhere in the world are controlled by the CCP. The time for just rolling over as this plague from China continues to hit this country hard is up. Class suits for equitable compensation should now commence.

China’s immunity from suit as a sovereign state does not extend to the CCP, the political party running the affairs of that country. Writs of attachment/garnishment could freeze the bank accounts and assets of the CCP’s conduits in this country indefinitely and render them available to pay the amount of damages the courts may find the CCP liable for.

For one, there is the Bank of China, whose umbilical links to the CCP are beyond cavil, with branches around the globe, including the Philippines. As a matter of fact, civil forfeiture cases against the known purveyor of COVID-19 have already been filed in Australia, Europe (United Kingdom, Germany), and the United States (Florida, Texas, Missouri), for loss of lives in the hundreds of thousands and their near-total economic devastation. Many others are contemplating following suit.

The IBP is the Filipino people’s only hope to file claims for damages (pro bono) in the hundreds of billions of pesos—if only it were not hobbled by the astronomical amount of judicial filing and docket fees required to be paid (currently about P25,000 for every P1 million in claims) under Rule 141, as amended. So, outside of the “pauper-litigant” statute, will the Supreme Court make an exception to that rule just this once? It would be free of charge if the Office of the Solicitor General took up the cudgels for the Filipino people and did the filing itself on their behalf. But, alas, that’s another story.

Stephen L. Monsanto
[email protected]