PH embassy honors sole Filipino to serve as ICJ judge

THE PHILIPPINE  Embassy to The Hague is set to honor Cesar Bengzon, the sole Filipino to serve as a judge at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The foreign service post will launch on July 19 the ICJ Judge Cesar Bengzon Hall at its newly-renovated chancery in The Hague.

"To recognize the unprecedented achievement of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Cesar Bengzon as the first and so far the only Filipino Judge of the ICJ (from 1967 to 1976), the Philippine Embassy to The Hague will dedicate a sitting room at the ground floor of the newly-renovated Chancery in his honor," it said in a statement.

The ICJ has its seat in The Hague, The Netherlands.

Also set to be honored during the ceremony are Raul Pangalangan, former International Criminal Court judge (from 2015 to 2021); and Florentino Feliciano, founding member and then-president of the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization (from 1995 to 2001).

"The Philippines has made significant contributions to the progressive development of international law in at least four areas: the drafting of the United Nations Charter and, in particular, on the chapter on international trusteeship for non-self-governing territories; the articulation of key principles of the peaceful settlement of disputes as embodied in the Manila Declaration of 1982; the development of the archipelagic doctrine in UNCLOS, and recently on clarifying key UNCLOS provisions on maritime entitlement and jurisdiction, and the distinguished service of eminent Filipino jurists in international tribunals," Philippine Ambassador to The Netherlands J. Eduardo Malaya said.

"We Filipinos should take pride that we are not only receivers of international law, but actually shapers of it."

The July 19 event will be attended by several prominent international legal luminaries, including incumbent judges of the ICJ.

ICJ Vice President Judge Kirill Gevorgian, Judge Iwasawa Yuji, and SC Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo will also deliver separate remarks. (Joyce Ann L. Rocamora)