The Department of Foreign Affairs revealed on Thursday the appointment of four Filipino international law experts as members of the Permanent Court of Arbitration that resolves international disputes.
The DFA quoted a statement of the Philippine Embassy in the Netherlands, which identified the PCA appointees as Dr. Raul Pangalangan, Prof. Sedfrey Candelaria, Dr. Antonio Gabriel La Viña, and Philippine Ambassador Eduardo Malaya.
The four were appointed to the PCA after their names were submitted by Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo, the DFA said.
A judge at the International Criminal Court from 2015 to 2021, Pangalagan is a law professor at the University of the Philippines.
Candelaria, chief of the Office of Research, Publications, and Linkages at the Philippine Judicial Academy, is an Ateneo de Manila University law professor.
In addition to serving as the Manila Observatory's Associate Director for Climate Policy and International Relations, La Viña was a member of the PCA Specialised Panel of Arbitrators and Experts (Environmental Disputes) from 2016 to 2022.
Malaya is the Philippine Ambassador to the Netherlands and the PCA Administrative Council's acting president for 2023–2024.
For six years, the four will act as PCA arbitrators. Together with the judges of the International Court of Justice, they can also suggest nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize and the ICJ.
It may be recalled that the PCA in The Hague in 2016 junked China's all-encompassing claim in the South China Sea while affirming the Philippines' 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone in the West Philippine Sea.
Other Filipinos who had served as PCA members included retired Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban, former Chief Justice Reynato Puno, and retired Justice Jose Vitug.