4 int'l law experts from PH named as members of Permanent Court of Arbitration

MANILA — Four international law experts from the Philippines have been appointed as members of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) that resolves international disputes, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Thursday.

In a statement, the Philippine Embassy in the Netherlands said Dr. Raul Pangalangan, Prof. Sedfrey Candelaria, Dr. Antonio Gabriel La Viña and Philippine Ambassador Eduardo Malaya were appointed to the PCA upon submission of their names by DFA Secretary Enrique Manalo.

Pangalagan, professor of law at the University of the Philippines, is a former judge of the International Criminal Court from 2015 to 2021.

Candelaria, a law professor at the Ateneo de Manila University, is Chief of Office of the Research, Publications and Linkages Office of the Philippine Judicial Academy.

La Viña is a former member of the PCA Specialized Panel of Arbitrators and Experts (Environmental Disputes) from 2016 to 2022 and currently Associate Director for Climate Policy and International Relations of the Manila Observatory.

Malaya is the current Philippine Ambassador to the Netherlands, and acting president of the PCA Administrative Council for 2023-2024.

They will be serving as arbitrators under the PCA for a term of six years. They can also nominate candidates for the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and propose candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize, in collaboration with the ICJ judges.

In 2016, the PCA in The Hague, Netherlands ruled in favor of the Philippines' claims in areas of the South China Sea that are part of its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which have since been called the West Philippine Sea.

It also invalidated China's "nine-dash line", where it had sweeping territorial claims over the disputed waters that were also claimed by other Southeast Asian nations such as Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei.

China has refused to recognize the ruling.

• China still regards Hague ruling on South China Sea illegal seven years on

The previous Philippine members of the PCA include retired Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban, former Chief Justice Reynato Puno, retired Justice Jose Vitug and Pangalangan.

The Congress of the Members of the Court will convene in June 2024, the DFA added. This will only be the third time that the Congress will convene, as part of the 125th anniversary of PCA.

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