“It is good that today, relations between China and the Philippines are good and promises to be even better in the years to come, as long as the yellows don’t get to power.

Complaints filed by two former officials against China’s President Xi Jinping have been junked by the International Criminal Court (ICC) citing its lack of jurisdiction.

The complainants, former Foreign Affairs secretary Albert del Rosario and former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, must have known that their complaint and case would hit a dead end.

However, they still filed their complaint anyway, mainly for its negative propaganda, not just against the Chinese leader, but also to portray the incumbent Philippine president as a weak leader who is moreover willing to give up that which the Chinese want to grab for themselves.

It was after all, a complaint that touched on Xi and in what the complainants claimed is China’s environmentally destructive activities in the South China Sea, zeroing in on the Chinese buildup of artificial islands.

For Morales and Del Rosario, the complaint focused on the “atrocious” actions in the South China Sea and in Philippine waters. It said China’s actions constitute a crime against humanity. For these yellows, everything appears to be a matter of crimes against humanity.

When it comes to hitting out at President Duterte, the yellows all go by their claim of crimes against humanity, thinking perhaps that given their “victory” at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague, the ICC would quickly support their complaint against the Chinese giant, which incidentally does not fall under the criminal court’s jurisdiction.

Morales and Del Rosario’s complaint against Xi was all encompassing, but with hardly anything to stand on. Their complaint charged that China has intentionally and forcibly excluded Philippine nationals from making use of the resources in certain relevant areas of the sea (such as blocking Filipino fishermen’s access to traditional fishing grounds at Scarborough Shoal); engaged in massive illegal reclamation and artificial island-building in the Spratly Islands, causing significant damage to the marine life in the area; and tolerated and actively supported illegal and harmful fishing practices by Chinese nationals, which has caused serious environmental damage, adding that such conduct violates the law of sea and also gives rise to crimes against humanity, namely other inhumane acts and persecution.

As expressed by the ICC prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, who is now looking at the completion of the physical examination against President Duterte, she said in her report, “The Office concluded that the crimes allegedly committed do not fall within the territorial or otherwise personal jurisdiction of the Court.”

But surely, with Morales having been both a lawyer and Supreme Court Associate Justice as well as the Philippine Ombudsman, she should have, at the very least, checked out the jurisdictional and territorial powers of the criminal court, considering the fact that China, like the United States, is not a member.

In its report on the preliminary activities for 2019, the ICC stated that under international law the court “lacks personal jurisdiction” or territorial jurisdiction over “maritime zones beyond territorial sea, such as the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf,” as they “are not considered to comprise part of a State’s territory” based on article 12(2)(a) of the Rome Statute.

“In the present situation, the conduct alleged in the communication received did not occur in the territory of the Philippines, but rather in areas outside its territory, purportedly in its EEZ and continental shelf,” the ICC said. It stressed that the “remaining basis” for exercising its jurisdiction under the highlighted article was not met. Still, it was the prosecutor that filed the case, and clearly, she was wrong.

“Accordingly, the office concluded that the crimes allegedly committed do not fall under the highlighted article was not met.”

However, as Morales has this penchant for coming up with complaints and cases that are, more often than not, trumped up, especially when it comes to the political foes of her yellow patron, she had to have another try at destroying Duterte, only for her to expose herself as an incompetent legal figure.

She should have rested on the “victory” obtained by the Philippine panel before the PCA, although the country, through the court’s decision, caused the loss of Scarborough Shoal, which was in the past, the traditional fishing ground enjoyed by Filipino fishers, something that the then yellow panel appears to push to the background.

Still, it was a hollow victory the Philippine panel held, considering the fact that China refused to participate in the arbitral court. Worse, despite the decision favoring the Philippines, China stood its ground, since the ruling was unenforceable.

Besides, the Philippines, even if it tried to enforce the decision, would not even be able to confront China militarily and both China and the Philippines know it.

It is good that today, relations between China and the Philippines are good and promises to be even better in the years to come, as long as the yellows don’t get to power.

It is almost certain, however, that the former Ombudsman will stop at nothing to continue her destructive ploys against Duterte, and will try again, despite her numerous failures in her and the yellows’ plots against the current government.

Give it up, Caprio-Morales. You can’t and won’t win ever again.