On the rule of law (1)

The rule of law is ideal in any thriving democracy — it is built on the foundational principle that laws should apply equally and impartially to everyone, even to state agents, lawmakers, and leaders, their representatives, or members of their families. Stable and predictable laws are to be implemented, regardless of individuals’ socioeconomic status and political connections. Where the rule of law prevails, even the state itself can be held accountable for “laws that are publicly promulgated, equally enforced and adjudicated, and which are consistent with international human rights norms” (Department of Justice, Good Governance and the Rule of Law, Philippine Development Forum).

However, in the Philippines, an avowedly thriving democracy for more than seven decades since the United States of America granted its independence on July 4, 1946, the rule of law remains elusive for the majority of its impoverished constituents—then and now.

Last Saturday, OIC Defense Secretary Carlito Z. Galvez Jr. gave a powerful speech at the plenary session of the International Institute for Strategic Studies Dialogue in Singapore. Defense ministers and other officials from 41 countries participated in this annual high-level defense summit in the Asia Pacific Region.

Galvez stressed the primordial importance of observing the rule of law especially among neighboring countries in the region, calling on them, and their defense ministers, to uphold it in the disputed South China Sea in the face of serious and persistent claims and counterclaims in the disputed waters there. Galvez said adhering to international mechanisms and rulings like the 2016 South China Sea Arbitration Award granted to the Philippines by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague, the Netherlands, can be an effective way to settle maritime disputes. He added the metaphor of “good fences make good neighbors,” alluding to the legal delineation of boundaries among sovereign countries and of respecting such boundaries to preserve durable peace and stability in the region.

Galvez exhorted his fellow defense ministers to observe international laws of the sea and other publicly promulgated maritime principles; that this is crucial in equalizing the status of all countries in the region. He noted that this is important since it “rests on our accountability to the rule of law and the success of our cooperation amid our diversity.”

In 2013, in the middle of then President Benigno Aquino III’s term, the Philippine government sued the Chinese government for encroaching into Philippine territorial waters in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea). The Chinese government largely snubbed it and did not accept the decision made by the PCA on July 12, 2016, that upheld the Philippines’ claim over that of China.

During President Rodrigo Duterte’s presidency, his friendly stance toward China through President Xi Jinping was quite palpable. This friendly relationship became a source of anxious reactions, especially from those who worked hard at getting a victorious decision on the Philippines’ case against Beijing. The Duterte-Xi Jinping friendship has resulted in a “consensus” reached allegedly between the two leaders to shelve maritime issues and manage the situation through dialogue and cooperation. This was part of the speech of the Chinese ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian in a virtual forum organized by the Association for Philippines-China Understanding, Inc. in 2021.

In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in 2020, Duterte claimed to uphold the 2016 PCA arbitration award since it is already part of international law. “The award is now part of international law, beyond compromise and beyond the reach of passing governments to dilute, diminish or abandon. We firmly reject attempts to undermine it,” he said then.

Such words would have struck a sympathetic chord with those who had pushed aggressively to get a victorious decision on our complaints against China’s aggressive intrusion into Philippine territorial waters in 2016, just when Duterte assumed office as president. But given Duterte’s overly amiable stance toward Xi and China, such words just affirmed his usual doublespeak on the rule of law throughout his presidency.

(To be continued)

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