MANILA, Philippines — Former Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio on Wednesday said China cannot prevent the Philippines from building structures on Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal.
Carpio said the shoal is part of the country’s exclusive economic zone under the 2016 South China Sea arbitral ruling.
“The Arbitral Award declared Ayungin Shoal part of the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the Philippines. In the EEZ, there is freedom of navigation and overflight for all states,” Carpio told Inquirer.
READ: West Philippine Sea: Chinese envoy blames PH in Ayungin encounter
“As the adjacent coastal state, the Philippines has the exclusive sovereign right to erect artificial structures on Ayungin Shoal without seeking permission from any state,” he added.
Carpio also questioned the legality of any reported arrangement that would require the Philippines to notify or consult China before sending vessels to Ayungin Shoal or constructing structures there.
He noted that the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has not publicly released the text of the provisional agreement with China.
“If that agreement prevents the Philippines from sending vessels to Ayungin Shoal without prior notice and consultation with China, or bars the Philippines from erecting artificial structures there, then it would undermine the country’s freedom of navigation and sovereign rights under Unclos (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) and the 2016 arbitral ruling,” he said.
‘In a bind’
Carpio also said the DFA was “now in a bind” because China had publicly disclosed that Manila supposedly agreed not to resupply the BRP Sierra Madre without prior notice and consultation and not to build on Ayungin Shoal.
“That is a clear derogation of Philippine sovereign rights which is beyond the power of the DFA Secretary to do,” he said.
READ: Marcos summons Chinese envoy over Ayungin incident
Carpio was responding to remarks by Chinese Ambassador Jing Quan, who said Beijing had sent two boats to inspect what it claimed were Philippine construction activities and the installation of barrier nets near Ayungin Shoal.
Jing said the activities were “against the spirit of our provisional agreement” because there should be “no new construction” and the “status quo” should be maintained.
The exchange came days after a confrontation near BRP Sierra Madre, the Philippine military outpost, at Ayungin.
China Coast Guard (CCG) personnel allegedly struck Philippine Navy troops with wooden batons during an encounter involving rubber boats.
Two Navy sailors were injured in the incident and the Philippine Coast Guard later conducted a medical evacuation to bring them to Palawan despite the presence of CCG vessels in the area.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. met with Jing at Malacañang on Tuesday during a previously scheduled meeting.
Malacañang said the President raised the Ayungin Shoal incident and condemned what Palace Press Officer Claire Castro described as China’s “illegal, aggressive and barbaric actions” against Filipino personnel in the West Philippine Sea.
The Philippines and China reached the arrangement in July 2024 to prevent clashes during rotation and resupply missions to the grounded Navy vessel, which has been stationed at Ayungin Shoal since 1999 to assert Philippine sovereignty.
The DFA has not released the full text of the agreement, but maintained that it was a practical mechanism that did not prejudice either side’s legal position in the waters.
China claims nearly all of the South China Sea, including the West Philippine Sea, waters in the western portion of the country’s 370-kilometer EEZ.
It also continues to ignore a 2016 ruling by an international arbitral tribunal that nullified its claims and upheld Manila’s sovereign rights over these waters. /mr
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