Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio is calling on the Senate to review the agreement forged by President Duterte with Chinese President Xi Jinping that allows Chinese fishermen to trawl inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Carpio said the so-called “fishing deal,” as confirmed by the President in his 4th State of the Nation Address (SONA) last Monday, should be treated as an international agreement or a treaty that requires concurrence by the Senate under the 1987 Constitution. “The Senate has to act now and either ratify or repudiate that fishing agreement. If you allow China to fish, that is a treaty or international agreement and that requires concurrence of the Senate,” he stressed in an interview yesterday.

Punay, E., Flores, H., & Lee-Brago, P. (2019, July 24). Carpio to Senate: Act now on fish deal. The Philippine Star, pp, 1, 7.