Senior Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio has inhibited himself from the petition asking the government to enforce environmental laws to protect and preserve three shoals in the West Philippine Sea. Supreme Court (SC) Public Information Chief Brain Keith F. Hosaka said the justices in the en banc session on July 2 accepted the “voluntary inhibition” of Mr. Carpio, who did not attend Tuesday’s oral arguments on the petition. “According to him the reason why he is inhibiting himself voluntarily is because it is for the peace of mind of the parties, particularly the Sol-gen (Solicitor General),” Mr. Hosaka said in a press briefing. The Office of the Solicitor General on June 27 filed a motion before the high court to inhibit Mr. Carpio from participating in the petition for his “personal bias and manifest partiality.”

Villegas, V. M. M., Balinbin, A. L., & Tadalan, C. A. (2019, July 3). Carpio steps back from West Philippine Sea case. BusinessWorld, p. S1/12.