In February, the US-based Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) released a heavily promoted report alleging that China sought to intimidate Filipinos into ceasing construction work on the Pag-Asa Island (Thitu) in the South China Sea. In March, former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario and former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales filed a complaint before the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Chinese President Xi Jinping’s South China Sea “plan” portrayed as a “crime against humanity.” Perhaps, emboldened by the filing, the ICC, reportedly, also tries to pursue a case against the Philippine drug war. Filed in the name of “Filipino fishermen,” the complaint has been followed by rounds of alarmist media headlines, coupled with heavily touted AMTI reports about “Chinese militarization” of the South China Sea.

Steinbock, D. (2019, April 8). Public agendas and private interests in ICC/South China Sea. The Manila Times, pp. A4, A5.