By Charmaine A. Tadalan
FORMER Solicitor General Florin T. Hilbay wants public access to the protests the Department of Foreign Affairs claimed to have filed against China.
The Alyansa ng mga Abogado para sa Bayan (ALAB) is considering the filing of a petition for mandamus to allow access to the complaints, Mr. Hilbay said during his lecture at the West Philippine Sea Forum at the University of the Philippines, Monday.
“We’re thinking about it, we think it’s well within the rights of Filipinos to know what they’re (government) saying to the other side,” Mr. Hilbay said.
Mr. Cayetano had earlier said some 50 to 100 protests were filed in the past two years, clarifying later that protests can be as simple as a verbal disagreement.
“He (Mr. Cayetano) had filed 50, 100 complaints, then they moved backwards and said ‘we filed formal concerns.’ I think as a constitutional matter those are matters of public concerns, that the public should have access to,” Mr. Hilbay said. “Because we’d like to know whether or not in any single instance where they actually did file, a formal protest, they invoked the decision.”
Mr. Hilbay is referring to the arbitral tribunal in 2016 ruling in favor of the Philippines’ rights over the South China Sea, invalidating China’s nine-dash line claims.
Mr. Hilbay was part of the legal team the represented the Philippines in the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague in its case against China.
He said, further, that asserting the country’s sovereign rights does not necessarily mean going to war.
“There’s a wide gap between asserting our rights and going to war,” he said.
He shared that at the time of former president Benigno S. C. Aquino III, the government consistently filed complaints until finally filing a case, which he described as a “pacific settlement of disputes.”
He also doubts China would go into war, seeing that a war in the South China Sea could negatively affect its trade.
“There’s a very high cost for China to go to war. Go back to $5-trillion (worth) of business (venture). One of the biggest casualties of a war in the South China Sea will definitely be the business conducted predominantly by China and the powerful countries in the area.”
While the government is being urged to file diplomatic protests, Mr. Hilbay said the private sector, for their part, can help by raising maritime awareness among Filipinos.
“I’d say the private sector can host as many forums as possible so that Filipino academics and lawyers, who are familiar with the case, can help awaken the Filipinos and inform Filipinos,” Mr. Hilbay said.
He added: “For the most part this has been a game of lawyers and the lecturers that had the program for mandatory continuing education lectures. I think people are starting to realize the need to broaden the base of people who understand what the case is all about.”
Also at the forum, Kaya Natin lead convener and lawyer Harvey S. Keh agreed with Mr. Hilbay that war is not an option, but said the Philippines should “exhaust all means for (a) peaceful (settlement).”
“Bakit ganito yung pamahalaan natin — duwag ba tayo? lahi ba tayo ng mga duwag? lahi ba tayo ng mga nagpapaapi na lamang? Lahi tayo ng mga bayani eh” (Why is the government [thinking] this way — are we cowards? Are we a race of cowards? Are we the kind to allow to be just oppressed? We have a [heritage] of heroism),” Mr. Keh said.

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