Was President Duterte informing the United Nations merely for the record, or to lay the basis for an action plan, on the 2016 arbitral award in favor of the Philippines vs China affirming his country’s sovereign rights in its maritime areas under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea? Duterte cited the award given by the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague in his Sept. 22 address to the UN General Assembly, describing it as “now part of international law, beyond compromise and beyond the reach of passing governments to dilute, diminish or abandon.” Nothing was said if he or the Philippine permanent representative to the UN submitted a copy of the PCA award, but we assumed the electronic delivery of his 2,000-word address could be deemed as substantial submission by reference.

Pascual, F. D. Jr. (2020, September 29). Doublespeak blurs our position on SCS. The Philippine Star, p. 6.