Retired Associate Justice Antonio Carpio flatly dismissed Monday China’s claims that it owns the West Philippine Sea (WPS), as well as the whole South China Sea since ancient times. This, as former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario cited computations showing China, in fact, owes the Philippines P33 billion a year in damage to Philippine marine resources in the WPS, or a total of P200 billion since 2014. “This is totally false,” Carpio said at a webinar hosted by Sen. Risa Hontiveros. “I call this the fake history…. This historical claim by China has been ruled by the arbitral tribunal as without legal or factual basis. The tribunal said that there is no evidence that China controlled the entire South China Sea at any time in its history beyond its territorial seas.”

Fernandez, B. (2020, June 9). ‘China owes us ₧33B in annual marine loss’. Business Mirror, pp. A8, A4.