Former solicitor general Florin Hilbay said retired Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio was an "outsider" in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) case who was pushing an "unethical" plan for a deal with China. Hilbay lashed out at Carpio a day before the fifth anniversary of the landmark arbitral decision on the WPS. The Philippines filed an arbitration case in 2013 based on the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to settle the maritime dispute with China. On July 12, 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration based in The Hague, Netherlands, upheld the Philippines' exclusive economic zone rights in the WPS.

Canlas, J., & Tamayo, B. E. (2021, July 12). Carpio's plan to push WPS deal hit. The Manila Times, pp. A1, A2.