Chinese Arbitration Body’s Standards Over Philippines’ Loans Questioned
CHINESE ARBITRATION BODY – Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian wants to find out if the Chinese arbitration body will follow international standards in resolving disputes over extended loans.
The arbitration body from Beijing will be handling possible disputes between Philippines and China over big loans. Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian,
chairman of the Senate economic affairs committee, fears that the arbitration body will apply unfair ruling.
This is based on the news report from Philstar.
Based on the article, Gatchalian said: “We must find out if the arbitration entity in Beijing follow international standards in resolving disputes, how they are different from internationally recognized arbitration bodies.”
According to Gatchalian, this is the first time that the country would follow a Chinese arbitration body.
Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio also warned that if the country fails to pay the debts, it might lose a huge amount of natural resources. Especially the rich natural gas deposits in Recto Bank.
Carpio said that China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission will impose their own rules in resolving possible disputes. And that this may not be fair for the Philippines.
Carpio also confirmed that loan contracts, official development assistance, and other financing agreements involving the Philippines with other countries and multilateral institutions have designated the respected and independent arbitration bodies:
- Singapore International Arbitration Centre
- International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes in Washington
- Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre
- New York International Arbitration Center.
President Rodrigo Duterte recently ordered a review of all foreign loan agreements that the Philippines is involved in amid the senators saying that this should be done carefully as this might drive away possible investors.
That is all there is to it, at least for now. We’ll post updates as soon as we got them.
