A case of the interpreter misinterpreting?

SOMETIME last week, we were surprised when the Supreme Court issued a ruling declaring the Joint Maritime Seismic Undertaking, or JMSU, unconstitutional. Honestly, I wasn't even aware that Bayan Muna representatives led by former congressman Teddy Casiño and Satur Ocampo had filed a petition for certiorari and prohibition assailing the constitutionality of the JMSU. It has been almost two decades since the undertaking was entered into by three countries — China, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Actually, I have been using the issue of the JMSU as a possible approach to resolving the territorial dispute in the contested areas of the South China Sea, describing it as a win-win solution for everyone wherein every claimant country could harness its potential without giving up or fighting anyone else for the right to do so.