DILIMAN, Quezon City — Amid ongoing the conflicting narratives in claims over portions of the West Philippine Sea (WPS), public intellectual business professional ang political journalist Adolfo 'Ka Ado' Paglinawan has assailed retired Supreme Court justice Antonio Carpio’s assessment that satellite-based global positioning system (GPS) measurements were sufficient for determining the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

In statement, Paglinawan pointed out that the former Supreme Court chief and former Justice Adolfo Azcuna allegedly misrepresented international maritime law and endangered the Philippines’ claims in the South China Sea by promoting what he called a misleading theory of 'automatic' maritime entitlements.
The geopolitical analyst presented during a forum organized by Manila-based think tank Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies Institute (ACPSSI) opined that Carpio’s long-standing argument that the country' s EEZ existed automatically under international law ignored key provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), particularly those governing overlapping maritime claims.

Paglinawan was reacting to a recent pronouncement by Carpio and Azcuna in an online interview that dismissed neophyte Senator Rodante Marcoleta’s legal competence and reiterated that a coastal state did not need to publish geographical coordinates to assert its EEZ.

Accordingly, he spelled out that Carpio’s reliance on Articles 76 and 77 of Unclos, which recognize inherent rights over the continental shelf, was incomplete and misleading without reference to Articles 74 and 75, both of which require delimitation agreements and publication of coordinates when maritime zones overlap.
“Automatic entitlement alone is not enough,” the former diplomat noted as he cited Article 74 of UNCLOS, which requires states with overlapping EEZs to negotiate boundaries or adopt provisional arrangements pending agreement.

He strongly argued that without formally defined and publicized coordinates, Philippine maritime claims remained legally weak, diplomatically vulnerable and extremely difficult to enforce.
“Without defined coordinates, a claim cannot be objectively tested, peacefully contested, or credibly defended,” he clarified, echoing the views of Washington-based international legal luminary Atty. Arnedo Valera.

"Satellite-based GPS measurements are not enough to determine the country’s EEZ. This oversimplifies enforcement and ignores the legal requirement for official charts and deposited coordinates under Article 75 of Unclos," he reiterated while further linking the debate to ongoing tensions in the WPS that have been aggravated lately due to the Philippines’ assertion of 'automatic' rights without negotiated delimitations.
Turning to Senator Marcoleta’s call for legislative review of existing maritime laws, Paglinawan sided with the former Social Amelioration and Genuine Intervention on Poverty (SAGIP) party-list representative's position, saying it was aimed at improving enforcement and strengthening diplomacy rather than political grandstanding.

In ending, he questioned the Philippine Maritime Zones Act (Republic Act 12064), authored by former senator Francis Tolentino, claiming it contains internal contradictions that may conflict with both UNCLOS and the 2016 arbitral ruling in favor of the Philippines.

"Failure to address these legal gaps could weaken Philippine claims in the South China Sea and expose (our) country to greater external influence, particularly from major powers involved in regional disputes. While land generates maritime rights, as Carpio often argues, international jurisprudence shows that such rights must eventually be translated into precise and publicly verifiable boundaries to be legally operable," Paglinawan concluded.