COL, Diokno Foundation highlight PHL sovereignty in Human Rights Award

The De La Salle University College of Law and Jose W. Diokno Foundation held the 2021 Ka Pepe Diokno Human Rights Award on the occasion of the 99th birthday of Ka Pepe Diokno, a DLSU alumnus, last February 26 via Zoom.

The event, which kicked off with the Celebration of the Holy Eucharist, honored four leading figures in the country’s continuing assertion of its sovereignty over disputed waters in the West Philippine Sea: former President Benigno S. Aquino III, former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert F. del Rosario, Ret. Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio, and Ret. SC Associate Justice and former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales.

Aquino was cited for leading the country towards the unprecedented step of filing the case of the Republic of the Philippines before the Permanent Court of Arbitration over the disputed waters, including the “nine-dash” demarcation line.

Del Rosario was honored for his role in the said case and for continuing to assert the Hague ruling in all available arenas, public and legal, domestic, and international.

Carpio was likewise cited for “serving as an exemplar of courage and honor, for his powerful intellectual and unwavering moral leadership in standing up for what is right.” Carpio-Morales was conferred the award for her decades of service and for similar efforts to uphold the rule of law, “for shedding light on the role of law and legal processes in upholding our nation’s rights and ideals.”