ASEAN chairship may keep PHL from filing cases vs China, former justice says

THE PHILIPPINES’ chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2026 could be hampering the filing of more arbitration cases against China’s coercive actions in the contested South China Sea, a former Supreme Court justice said as he urged officials to boost Manila’s claims via international mediation.

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The government might be reluctant to lodge arbitration cases asserting the Philippines’ Extended Continental Shelf beyond its exclusive waters and contesting Beijing’s barring of Filipino fishers in the disputed Scarborough Shoal as it may “upset” other ASEAN nations, former Supreme Court Justice Antonio T. Carpio said on Thursday.

“I’ve been trying to convince the Foreign Affairs department to file another arbitration case,” he said at a military leadership summit in Manila. “But it takes time to convince the agencies of our government here since there will be an ASEAN summit, and I think the policy is not to initiate something that would upset the participants.”

The Chinese Embassy in Manila did not immediately reply to a Viber message seeking comment.