Can Filipino lawyers stand up against Chinese Communist Party over COVID-19 pandemic?

As China’s ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) seems to think it has already gotten away with the coronavirus that originated from Wuhan and which continues to plague, weaken, and make nations around the globe vulnerable, it is no longer any surprise that its incursions into the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have gone unabated (“Call in China envoy anew over 100 more ‘likely Chinese’ ships in WPS, DFS told,” 6/24/21). From all appearances, this scenario is all part of its imperial game plan.

China’s CCP swarmed the WPS with over 200 militia vessels to make its “sovereign presence” more felt months ago amid a raging pandemic it has spawned; and despite about 100 diplomatic protests lodged against such intrusions, dozens of those ships have remained anchored there for the longest time and are expected to be joined again by more ships such as those seen lately via satellite on their way to the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone in the WPS.

Alas, all the Philippines can do is to lodge protest after protest—till kingdom come. Ours is no match to that bully’s firepower. We got that already. But should we let the CCP get away with all its shenanigans? Are the bright lawyers in our Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) that “inutil,” too? We are reputed to be a very litigious people with so many lawyers said to be “chasing ambulances” anywhere in one form or another. For once, why don’t they unite and chase the biggest “ambulance” of all: the one bearing COVID-19 victims in this country?

The undisputed fact alone that when the deadly virus first broke out in Wuhan the CCP immediately took steps to prevent its spread by banning travel to other parts of China—but not travel outside of China and around the globe until it was too late— speaks volumes of its intentions. Prima facie, that’s as good a case as it gets. The IBP can spearhead the class suit to go after the CCP’s multibillion-dollar businesses and assets in this country.

The CCP is technically not the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and per se, enjoys no “state immunity from suit.” The more than 90 million card-bearing members of that ruling political party are even less than one percent of the more than 1.4 billion Chinese people who comprise the PRC. As former US secretary of state Michael Pompeo put it: We are not against the Chinese people, only against the CCP.

Suits against foreign entities doing business or owning assets in this country are nothing new in this jurisdiction. The demand for compensation and reparation could amount to hundreds of billions of pesos, if not trillions already. The Office of the Solicitor General’s (OSG) intervention will exempt that suit from all filing and docket fees, which could amount to hundreds of millions of pesos. If the OSG thought it could intervene as the “people’s tribune” in a palpably personal case (e.g., in support of Bongbong Marcos’ electoral protest against Vice President Leni Robredo), it surely can find ways to intervene in a case imbued with so much “public interest.”

And if the OSG shies away from such a suit (for reasons already obvious to many), the IBP should go it alone and petition the Supreme Court to waive all judicial fees under its own Rules of Court. Time and again, the high court has seen fit to set aside its own rules in the substantial interest of justice and equity. It’s long overdue, but better late than never. Will the IBP step up and prove it can do much more than just collecting annual dues from its members? Does it have the balls to buckle down and demand justice for the more than 1.3 million Filipinos sick with COVID-19 and almost 24,000 dead as of June 24, let alone the massive economic havoc the CCP virus has wreaked on this country?

The bottom line is, does the IBP give a rip?

STEPHEN L. MONSANTO
lexsquare.firm@gmail.com