Bahraini PM supports Phl nominee to ICJ

MANILA, Philippines - Bahrain has expressed its support for the Philippine nominee to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in elections to be held in New York on April 27.

Ambassador Ma. Corazon Yap-Bahjin said Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, prime minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain, expressed his government’s support for the candidacy of retired Supreme Court justice Florentino Feliciano to the ICJ post.

The ICJ, located at The Hague in the Netherlands, is the main judicial organ of the United Nations. It decides on disputes between nations that have agreed to accept its jurisdiction, and gives advisory opinions.

The Bahrain prime minister also indicated his country’s interest to invest in the Philippines.

He and Bahjin discussed ways to bolster relations between the Philippines and Bahrain, particularly in the areas of trade and investment, political exchanges and cooperation in the bilateral, regional, and multilateral fora.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario will leave today for the United States to campaign for Feliciano.

Feliciano was born in Manila in 1928. After graduating as valedictorian of his high school class in De La Salle College, he proceeded to earn his BA and LLB degrees from the University of the Philippines, graduating summa cum laude and magna cum laude, respectively.

He obtained Master of Laws and Doctor of Juridical Science at Yale University, and was subsequently awarded Doctor of Laws by Misamis University in the Philippines.

He was a member of the firm SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan (formerly SyCip Salazar Feliciano & Hernandez) for nearly 25 years, where he served as co-managing partner in 1976 and managing partner in 1983 until 1986.

He was counsel, negotiator, and legal adviser to corporations engaged in pharmaceutical manufacturing and distribution; health and personal care products; mining; petroleum refining and distribution; industrial and agricultural chemicals; iron and steel products; and commercial, development, and investment banking, among others.

He was also a legal consultant to the Consultative Committee on the Establishment of the Asian Development Bank, the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East, and the Preparatory Committee on the Asian Development Bank (1965 to 1966); a member of the Philippine government panel of negotiators on the North Borneo claim (1968); a member of the UN Committee of Experts on Human Rights in Armed Conflicts (1970); and a member of the International Committee of the Red Cross’ Steering Committee on the Restatement of Customary International Humanitarian Law (1997 to 1999).

After many years in law practice, Feliciano was appointed as Supreme Court justice in 1986. In December 1995, he took early retirement from the SC when he was elected to the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva.

He became a member of the Appellate Body of the WTO – the highest international tribunal for trade disputes – in January 1996, and was its chairman from 2000 to 2001, where he contributed immensely to the burgeoning jurisprudence of international trade law.

He is currently senior counsel at SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan. He also authored a number of publications in the fields of international law and international economic law.