Rule of Law
Since men is a social being, they are born to be in a social relationship which
agrees to the quotation that “no man is an island”. In order to attain a peaceful
relationship it must be harmonize and governed by a rule of law that promote an order to
live life comfortably and safely. What is this rule of law? The rule of law as discuss in the
article of United nations Global Compact (UN Global Compact, March 05, 2024) that
“Government need to have good laws, institutions and processes in place to ensure
accountability, stability, equality and access to justice for all. This ultimately leads to
respect for human rights and environment. It also helps lower levels of corruption and
instances of violent conflict”1, it further states that a strong rule of law includes:

Clearly written and easily accessible laws that create certainty and
enforceablity of legal rights.
 An independent and impartial judiciary that promotes fairness and ensures
transparent, timely and predictable resolution of disputes.
 Effective and efficient public institutions that empower business and
individuals to make a positive contribution to the economy and society.
It simply means that “no one is above the law” that we are all born equal with the
same rights and dignity in order to promote a humane society. As it was written in our
1987 Constitution, Article III, Section 1. that “No person shall be deprived of life, liberty,
or property without due process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal
protection of the laws.”
Without this rule of law, the generation of human beings cannot prosper because
of chaos, war and lawlessness society. This is different in the concept of rule by law, as
posted by Van Norman Law (Norman, 2017) in his article that “Rule by law is a concept
that sees the governing authority as somehow being above the law, and has the power to
create and execute law where they find it to be convenient,… This usually has the end
goal of psychologically or forcefully persuading people to agree with policy decisions
they otherwise would not agree with.”2
The rule of law is still relevant in today’s issues especially international issues
because it is the core element of the humanitarian and human right agendas, as it written
in a one article of the United Nations (UN, 2023) that “The rule of law is an important
components of sustaining peace, as advanced by the General Assembly and Security
Council in the twin resolutions on the review of the peacebuilding architecture.
Sustaining peace requires an integrated and comprehensive approach across the UN
system, based on coherence between political, security, development, human rights,
gender equality and rule of law activities in support of member State-led efforts.”3
One of the the international issues that our world face today is the dispute
between China and the Philippines wherein China claims 90% total area of the South
China Sea by implementing 10-dashed line claim. The Rule of Law regarding this dispute
as delivered by Justice Carpio ( Carpio, 2013) that “The Rule of Law in the West
Philippine Sea dispute is UNCLOS. All the claimant states to the disputes are parties to
UNCLOS and are bound to comply with their treaty obligations under UNCLOS in good
faith. If the West Philippine Sea dispute is settled in accordance that there will be a just,
permanent and lasting peace in the West Philippine Sea.”4
1
United
nations
Global
Compact,
Rule
of
Law,
accessed
https://unglobalcompact.org/what-is-gc/our-work/governance/rule-law.
05
March
2
Van Norman Law (2017), Rule of Law vs. Rule by Law, accessed 05 March 2024,
https://vannormallaw.com/rule-law-vs-rule-law/
3
United Nations and the Rule of Law (2023), What is Rule of Law, accessed 05 March 2024,
https://www.un.org/ruleoflaw/what-is-the-rule-of-law/#
4
Justice Antonio T. Carpio (2013), The Rule of Law in the West Philippine Sea dispute, accessed 05
March 2024, https://www.imoa.ph/speech-the-rule-of-law-in-the-west-philippine-sea-dispute.
2024,
As lectured by Justice Carpio (Carpio, 2021) to move forward in the South China
Sea we must:
1. Encourage all navies of the world to exercise freedom of navigation in the high seas
and exclusive economic zone of the South China Sea. This will affirm and enforce the
ruling.
2. Ask the peoples of the world as help the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia,
and Brunei explain to the Chinese people that China has no historic claim to the South
China Sea.
3. Continue resorting to the rule of law as embodied in UNCLOS. War is not an option
and has never born an option.5
5 Justice Antonio T. Carpio (2017), Defending Philippine sovereign Rights in the West Philippine Sea, accessed 05
March 2024, www.youtube.com/@instituteformaritimeandoce5945