VERA Files
SAGIP Party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta falsely claimed during a May 31 hearing of the Commission on Appointments (CA) that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) “rebuked” retired Supreme Court (SC) associate justice Antonio Carpio about a complaint on the presence of Chinese vessels within Philippine territory.
Carpio never filed a petition in the ICJ. The Netherlands-based court has no mandate to handle complaints by individuals or private entities other than the cases filed by member states or organs and specialized agencies of the United Nations (UN).
This is the second time, by VERA Files Fact Check’s count, that Marcoleta confused the ICJ with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in making the false assertion about Carpio filing a complaint in the ICJ. (See VERA FILES FACT CHECK: Marcoleta makes two inaccurate claims on former SC justice Carpio, West PH Sea arbitral award)
STATEMENT
In the May 31 hearing of the CA Committee on Foreign Affairs, Marcoleta asked then Foreign Affairs undersecretary Carlos Sorreta–who was recently confirmed as the country’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva–if there’s a need to harmonize the 1987 Constitution and other domestic laws with public international law, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
Here’s an excerpt of the exchange:
“Sorreta: I believe so, your honor. And it was upheld in a Supreme Court case.
Marcoleta: Yes. As a matter of fact, if I recall, correct me if I’m wrong, I think former justice Carpio filed a complaint in the International Court of Justice complaining that Chinese vessels are within the national territory of the Philippines. And the ICJ seems to have rebuked justice Carpio because he was told that the territorial sea and the … exclusive economic zones are not part of the country’s national territory. Do you recall that?
Sorreta: No, your honor. I’m sorry.”
Source: Commision on Appointments official YouTube channel, CA COMMITTEE MEETINGS ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, NATIONAL DEFENSE, CAUCUS & PLENARY SESSION (05/31/23), May 31, 2023, watch from 02:10:25 to 02:11:42
After Marcoleta’s turn in questioning Sorreta, Sen. Risa Hontiveros promptly noted that the SAGIP Party-list representative’s claim that ICJ scolded Carpio was wrong, citing a VERA Files Fact Check article in 2021.
FACT
There is no record on the official website of the ICJ that Carpio ever filed a complaint against China in the disputes settlement court.
When Marcoleta claimed in August 2021 that Carpio lodged a petition in 2019, news reports revealed that it was former ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales and the late Foreign Affairs secretary Albert Del Rosario who submitted a complaint to the ICC, not the ICJ, against Chinese officials, including President Xi Jinping. Carpio, who retired in October 2019, was still in the Supreme Court at the time.
In their March 2019 communication, Carpio-Morales and Del Rosario asked the ICC to hold Xi and other high government officials in China accountable for crimes against humanity resulting from its activities, such as massive artificial island-building in the Spratlys Islands, that destroyed the marine environment in the Philippines’ EEZ and continental shelf in the West Philippine Sea.
However, the ICC rejected the complaint for lack of jurisdiction. In its 2019 year-end report, the ICC said it concluded that “a state’s EEZ (and continental shelf) cannot be considered to comprise part of its ‘territory’ for the purpose of article 12(2)(a) of the [Rome] Statute].”
In September 2020, Del Rosario announced that they would submit new evidence to the ICC, with Carpio serving as their counsel, to prove the occurrence of the alleged crimes in the Philippine territory and not just within its EEZ. He cited China’s illegal reclamation and artificial island-building in Subi Reef, saying it is within the territorial sea of Pag-asa Island in the Spratlys.
In a June 6 statement to VERA Files Fact Check, Carpio said, “After I retired from the SC, I entered my appearance as co-counsel but there were no pleadings filed after that.”
Unlike the ICC, the ICJ – the principal judicial organ of the UN – is not a criminal court and does not try individuals accused of war crimes or crimes against humanity. It handles only legal disputes between states and gives advisory opinions on legal matters referred to it by UN organs and specialized agencies such as the World Health Organization.
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Sources
Commision on Appointments official YouTube channel, CA COMMITTEE MEETINGS ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, NATIONAL DEFENSE, CAUCUS & PLENARY SESSION (05/31/23), May 31, 2023
International Court of Justice official website, Frequently Asked Questions, accessed June 5, 2023
International Court of Justice official website, How the Court Works, accessed June 5, 2023
ABS-CBN News, Filipino group files int’l court case vs China’s Xi over ‘crimes against humanity’, March 21, 2019
Philstar.com, Ex-Philippine officials file ICC complaint vs China’s Xi Jinping, March 21, 2019
Rappler.com, Ex-PH officials bring China’s Xi to Int’l Criminal Court, March 21, 2019
Antonio Carpio official website, Justice Antonio T. Carpio (Ret.), accessed June 5, 2023
International Criminal Court official website, Report on Preliminary Examination Activities 2019, Dec. 5, 2019
Inquirer.net, ICC should now proceed to investigate China’s crimes against humanity, Sept. 18, 2020
United Nations official website, Specialized Agencies, accessed June 5, 2023
