Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 26) — Former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay warned that the Philippines is “throwing away” its 2016 victory over China in an arbitral ruling by entering into an agreement to pursue talks on a joint oil and gas exploration.

“By signing this MOU (memorandum of understanding), we’re going backwards, not recognizing our win, throwing away the trophy, and saying, ‘Okay, we go back now to our prior status before the arbitration,'” Hilbay told CNN Philippines’ The Source on Monday.

Hilbay, who is also running for senator in the May 2019 polls, assailed Section 4 of the MOU which states that all discussions, negotiations and activities of the Philippines and China pursuant to the agreement “will be without prejudice to the respective legal positions of both governments.”

“The problem is those respective legal positions have already been clarified by the decision in Philippines vs. China. The decision says, China’s wrong, and the Philippines is right,” Hilbay said.

The former solicitor general was referring to a 2016 ruling of an arbitral tribunal in the Hague on areas in the South China Sea claimed by both Manila and Beijing. The tribunal largely affirmed the Philippines’ sovereign rights in areas within its 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone that Beijing was contesting, but the MOU does not specifically mention the South China Sea or any area where joint development could happen.

This is left for working groups and an Inter-Governmental Joint Steering Committee to determine and negotiate.

Section 1 of the MOU says that the basis for the document include “the charter of the United Nations, the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.”

“We are recognizing the claim of China which we defeated when we won the case. And so my worry, really, by entering into this agreement to agree, we have already waived the decision,” Hilbay said.

The Philippines, under President Rodrigo Duterte, has not pressed China on the ruling, to the disappointment of many Filipinos, as indicated by a recent survey. Meanwhile, the Asian giant rejects the arbitral ruling and stands by its sweeping claim over the South China Sea.

China also continues its militarization of the West Philippine Sea, recently installing weather stations on artificial islands it built there.

A Filipino TV crew was also reportedly told off by a Chinese coast guard that they could not conduct an interview on Scarborough Shoal — which is within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone – without permission from the Chinese government.

http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2018/11/26/Florin-Hilbay-Philippines-Hague-Ruling-China-oil-deal.html