The Philippines as a State (Statehood and Territory) Part 2

Question 1

what is a STATE?

Answer 1

a community of persons more or less numerous, permanently occupying a definite portion of territory, independent of external control, and processing an organized government to which the great body of inhabitants render habitual obedience.

Question 2

Elements of a state

Answer 2

1. People
2. Territory
3. Government
4. Sovereignty

Question 3

What was the petitioner’s argument against the constitutionality of the MOA-AD?

Answer 3

Petitioners allege respondents drafted the terms of MOA-AD without consulting the local government or the communities affected nor informing them of the proceedings. (Departure of respondents from their mandate under EO. No.3)
➢ Petitioners argued that the provisions of the MOA-AD violate the Constitution. The MOA-AD provides that:
“any provisions of the MOA-AD requiring amendments to the existing legal framework shall come into force upon the signing of a Comprehensive Compact and upon affecting the necessary changes to the legal framework”. This implies an amendment of the Constitution to accommodate the MOA-AD. This stipulation, in effect, guaranteed to the MILF the amendment of the Constitution. Such an act constitutes another violation of its authority.

Question 4

How did the respondent defend the constitutionality of the MOA-AD

Answer 4

Respondents have admitted as much in the oral arguments and the MOA-AD itself recognizes the need to amend the existing legal framework to render effective at least some of its provisions. Respondents, nonetheless, counter that the MOA-AD is free of any legal infirmity because any provisions therein which are inconsistent with the present legal framework will not be effective until the necessary changes to that framework are made

Question 5

Is the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity a State? Explain the concept of an associated state?

Answer 5

Yes, the provisions of the MOA indicate, among other things, that the Parties aimed to vest in the BJE the status of an associated state or, at any rate, a status closely approximating it. Moreover, the BJE is a state in all but name as it meets the criteria of a state laid down in the Montevideo Convention, namely, a permanent population,a defined territory, a government, and a capacity to enter into relations with other states.
➢ In international practice, the “associated state” arrangement has usually been used as a transitional device of former colonies on their way to full independence. Examples of states that have passed through the status of associated states as a transitional phase are Antigua, St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Grenada. All have since become independent states. The concept of association is not recognized under the present Constitution

Question 6

What are the specific provisions in the MOA-AD which are consistent with association?

Answer 6

● the BJE’s capacity to enter into economic and trade relations with foreign countries
● the commitment of the Central Government to ensure the BJE’s participation in meetings and events in the ASEAN and the specialized UN agencies
● and the continuing responsibility of the Central Government over external defense.
● Moreover, the BJE’s right to participate in Philippine social missions bearing on negotiation of border agreements, environmental protection, and sharing of revenues pertaining to the bodies of water adjacent to or between the islands forming part of the ancestral domain
These provisions of the MOA indicate, among other things, that the Parties aimed to vest in the BJE the status of an associated state or, at any rate, a status closely approximating it.

Question 7

Article 1

Montevideo Convention

Answer 7

The state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications:

a. a permanent population;
b. a defined territory;
c. government; and
d. capacity to enter into relations with the other state

Question 8

A) Article I: NATIONAL TERRITORY, 1987 Constitution

Answer 8

The national territory comprises the Philippine archipelago, with all the islands and waters embraced therein, and all other territories over which the Philippines has sovereignty or jurisdiction, consisting of its terrestrial, fluvial, and aerial domains, including its territorial sea, the seabed, the subsoil, the insular shelves, and other submarine areas. The waters around, between, and connecting the islands of the archipelago, regardless of their breadth and dimensions, form part of the internal waters of the Philippines.

Question 9

Article 1 of the 1935 Constitution provides that:

Answer 9

The Philippines comprises all the territory ceded to the United States by the treaty of Paris concluded between the United States and Spain on the 10th day of December, 1898, the limits of which are set forth in Article III of said treaty, together with all the islands embraced in the treaty concluded at Washington, between the United States and Spain on the 7th day of November, 1900, and in the treaty concluded between the United States and Great Britain on the 2nd day of January, 1930, and all territory over which the present Government of the Philippine Islands exercises jurisdiction. This provision, according to Committee Chairman Quintero during the 1972 Constitutional Commision, sets a definition of what comprises the PH archipelago.

Question 10

Article 3, Treaty of Paris

Answer 10

Spain cedes to the United States the archipelago known as the Philippines Islands, and comprehending the islands lying within the following line:
A line running from west to east along or near the twentieth parallel of north latitude, and through the middle of the navigable channel of Bacchi, from the one hundred and eighteenth to the one hundred and eighteenth to the one hundred and twenty-seventh degree meridian of longitude east of Greenwich, thence along the parallel and forty-five minutes north latitude to its intersection with the meridian of longitude one hundred and nineteen degrees and thirty-five minutes east of Greenwich to the parallel of latitude seven degrees and forty minutes north to its intersection with the one hundred and sixteenth degree meridian of longitude east of Greenwich, and thence along the one hundred and eighteenth degree meridian of longitude east of Greenwich to the point of beginning.
➢ The United States will pay to Spain the sum of twenty million dollars, within three months after the exchange of the ratifications of the present treaty.
➢ Philippine Islands, and comprehending the islands lying within the following line

Question 11

Treaty of Washington

Answer 11

➢ The Treaty of Washington of 1900 was signed on November 7, 1900, and came into effect on March 23, 1901, when the ratifications were exchanged. The treaty sought to remove any ground of misunderstanding growing out of the interpretation of Article III of the 1898 Treaty of Paris by clarifying specifics of territories relinquished to the United States by Spain. It explicitly provided:
➢ Spain relinquishes to the United States all title and claim of title, which she may have had at the time of the conclusion of the Treaty of Peace of Paris, to any and all islands belonging to the Philippine Archipelago, lying outside the lines described in Article III of that Treaty and particularly to the islands of Cagayan [Mapun], Sulu and Sibutu and their dependencies, and agrees that all such islands shall be comprehended in the cession of the Archipelago as fully as if they had been expressly included within those lines.
➢ In consideration for that explicit statement of relinquishment, the United States agreed to pay to Spain the sum of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) within six months after the exchange of ratification.The Treaty of Washington is also known as the Cession Treaty.
➢ All islands belonging to the Philippine Archipelago, lying outside the lines described in Article III of that Treaty and particularly to the islands of Cagayan, Sulu and Sibutu and their dependencies

Question 12

1930 Treaty between US and Great Britain

Answer 12

➢ It is hereby agreed and declared that the line separating the islands belonging to the Philippine Archipelago on the one hand and the islands belonging to the State of North Borneo which is under British protection.
➢ all islands in the Turtle and Mangsee Group

Question 13

Article 1, 1973 Constitution (“by historical right or legal title”)

Answer 13

The national territory comprises the Philippine archipelago, with all the islands and waters embraced therein, and all the other territories belonging to the Philippines by historic right or legal title (covered any other territory which the Philippines might acquire in the future through accepted international modes of acquisition), including the territorial sea, the air space, the subsoil, the sea-bed, the insular shelves, and the other submarine areas over which the Philippines has sovereignty or jurisdiction. The waters around, between, and connecting the islands of the archipelago, irrespective of their breadth and dimensions, form part of the internal waters of the Philippines.
➢ Other territories, depending on the available evidence, might belong to the Philippines (e.g. Sabah, the Marianas, Freedomland)

Question 14

Article 1, 1987 Constitution (“has sovereignty or jurisdiction”)

Answer 14

This includes territories which presently belong or might in the future belong to the Philippines through any of the international accepted modes of acquiring territory.

Question 15

TERRITORIES OVER WHICH THE PHILIPPINES HAS SOVEREIGNTY OR JURISDICTION
Sabah, back story?

Answer 15

➢ Philippines maintains a dormant claim over the sovereignty of eastern Sabah based on the claim that in 1658 the Sultan of Brunei had ceded the northeast portion of Borneo to the Sultan of Sulu; and that later in 1878, an agreement was signed by the Sultan of Sulu granting the North Borneo Chartered Company a permanent lease over the territory. Malaysia considered this dispute as a “non-issue”, as there is no desire from the actual people of Sabah to be part of the Philippines or of the Sultanate of Sulu. As reported by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the independence of North Borneo was brought about as the result of the expressed wish of the majority of the people of the territory in a 1963 election.
➢ The Sultanate of Sulu was granted the territory as a prize for helping the Sultan of Brunei against his enemies and from then on that part of Borneo is recognized as part of the Sultan of Sulu’s sovereignty.
➢ The claim was based on several historical facts and court judgement. The lease agreement is definitely a proof otherwise there will be no basis for any agreement if such ownership was not established at all. The contract was between Sri Paduka Maulana Al Sultan Mohammad Jamalul Alam - representing the sultanate as owner and sovereign of Sabah on one hand, and that of Gustavus Baron de Overbeck and Alfred Dent, representing the British East India Co. (then became the North Borneo Co.), on the other as lessee of Sabah, was executed on June 22, 1878. Though the British turned over the possession and government of Sabah to the federation, the Malaysians have not remissed in paying the annual rental.
➢ President Diosdado Macapagal claimed North Borneo as ceded by the heiress of the Sultanate of Sulu (196

Question 16

TERRITORIES OVER WHICH THE PHILIPPINES HAS SOVEREIGNTY OR JURISDICTION
Spratlys // Kalayaan Island Group back story?

Answer 16

The Spratlys are claimed in total by China, Vietnam, and Taiwan, whereas Malaysia laid claim to parts of the continental shelf underlying the southernmost islands in the chain. Indeed, ownership of virtually all of the South China Sea is contested. The disputed islands in the South China Sea assumed importance only after it was disclosed that they were near the potential sites of substantial offshore oil deposits. The most proactive claimant in the region is China. Offshore exploitation of Palawan, which is situated adjacent to Kalayaan, the Philippines claim in the Spratly, has been the main target. The Philippine is hoping that by exploiting 100 million barrels of oil in the area, the country would become one of the major oil producers in South-east Asia. This would also promote its fishery interest by providing its fleets with additional and exclusive fishing grounds. As the implications of the UNCLOS provisions for archipelagic states and their EEZs became clear so the Philippine pressed its claim with more vigour.
➢ In 1947, Tomas Cloma, a Filipino adventurer and a fishing magnate, found several uninhabited and unoccupied group of islands/islets in the South China Sea This is the principal basis for justification of Spratly islands territorial claims by the Philippines, along with basis from 1982 UNCLOS archipelagic doctrine. On May 11, 1956, together with 40 men, Tomas and his brother Filemon took formal possession of the islands, lying some 380 miles west of the southern end of Palawan and named it Freedom Land.
➢ The Kalayaan Island Group was constituted under the Presidential Decree No. 1596.

Question 17

Bajo de Masinloc // Scarbourough Shoal, back story?

Answer 17

➢ The Philippines covered a vast area extending from what present-day Filipinos consider the Philippines, but stretching as far as Guam and Saipan in the Marianas and the Caroline Islands. This territory is commemorated to this day by one of the obscure titles of the King of Spain, Rey de las Islas del Poniente.
➢ Up to 1815, the Philippines were considered, essentially, an extension of the Viceroyalty of Mexico, and after Mexican independence from Spain, we were a province directly governed from Madrid.
➢ Manila, in turn, after 1815, had jurisdiction over the Marianas and the Carolines. Guam, in the Marianas, was the place that Spain exiled troublesome Filipinos, for example, like Tandang Sora. According to the Spanish historian, the Northern Marianas had, as its last governor, a Filipino-born Spaniard, Eugenio Blanco, who suppressed a local rebellion by means of volunteer troops from Macabebe, Pampanga, in a ferocious campaign called “El Tiempo del Macabebe” in the literature of the era.
➢ What seems to have happened, when Spain was defeated by the US in the Spanish-American War, was that the Americans only expressed interest in only part of the colonial real estate of Spain. And so, in the Treaty of Paris in 1898, what Spain ceded to America was the Philippines and the Marianas, while America
allowed Spain to retain the Carolines. The Carolines, in turn, were sold by Spain to Germany in 1899.
➢ Going back to the Treaty of Paris, the territory ceded by Spain became the working definition for our country, as it prepared for the restoration of independence by 1946. However, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention that drafted our 1935 Constitution noticed some problems.
➢ Part of the Constitutional Convention’s published records, includes a report signed by Nicolas Buendia, former senator (and yes, of Buendia Avenue fame), who was Chairman of the Committee on Territorial Delimitation. He said that if you look at the Batanes Islands, the limit of our territory in that area should be the Bashi Channel.
➢ But the Treaty of Paris, according to Buendia’s committee report, was based on erroneous Spanish maps used in a 1895 agreement between Spain and Japan, which then owned Tiawan, and so the quoted lines of latitude and longitude in Spain’s agreement with the US placed the border at the Balintang Channel. Buendia recommended that the Philippines, in its new Constitution, fix the error so as to remove all room for doubt. But it seems the report wasn’t adopted in full, because instead of adopting the technically complete list of revised latitudes and longitudes, the 1935 Constitution was quite brief: the Philippines was the territory ceded by Spain to America in 1898 plus the Turtle Islands as agreed upon by Britain and the US in 1930.

Question 18

Terrestrial Domains

Answer 18

refers to the land mass, which may be integrate or dismembered, or partly bound by water or consist of one whole island. It may be composed of several islands, like the Philippines, which are also known as mid ocean archipelagos as distinguished from the coastal archipelago’s like Greece.
➢ Agricultural Lands, Forest or Timber, Mineral Lands, Natural Parks under the sovereignty or jurisdiction of the Philippines.

Question 19

Fluvial Domain

Answer 19

➢ Refers to the water, this could be seas, rivers, oceans, lakes, canals, ports and harbor.
➢ Internal or National Water. Include rivers, lakes, canals, ports, harbors, gulfs and bays and waters around, between and connecting the islands of the archipelago.

Question 20

Aerial Domain

Answer 20

➢ Air space above the land and water excluding the outer space.
➢ It includes the air directly above the state’s terrestrial and fluvial domains, all the way up to where the outer space begins.

Question 21

Territorial Sea

Answer 21

➢ 12 nm from the low water

Question 22

Seabed

Answer 22

➢ bottom of the sea

Question 23

Subsoil

Answer 23

➢ everything beneath the soil

Question 24

Insular shelves

Answer 24

➢ parts of the island that remain underwater

Question 25

Archipelagic Doctrine Explain

Answer 25

➢ The Archipelagic Doctrine was proposed by Atty. Arturo M. Tolentino, a statesman and civil law authority. He remains to hold credit upon the promulgation of the Archipelagic Doctrine as early as 1956. He was the Chairman of the Philippine Delegation to the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) from 1978 to 1982.
➢ The concept or doctrine, owing to Mr. Tolentino, provides the framework of “hypothetical extent” practicable over any archipelago’s maritime domain and immediate territorial boundaries. It provides that the inland seas and continental shelves shall become integral parts of the sovereign territories of the archipelagic nation - states.
➢ The Archipelagic Doctrine adheres to the territorial or maritime integration of divided islands or islets into one cohesive geographical entity.

Question 26

What are the rights of innocent passage and of archipelagic sea lanes passage?
INNOCENT PASSAGE IN THE TERRITORIAL SEA

Answer 26

The sovereignty of an archipelagic State, like the Philippines, extends beyond the land territories and internal waters to the adjacent belt of sea described as the territorial seas. But this sovereignty is to be exercised in accordance with the Convention and in line with this, the Convention does provide that ships of all states enjoy the right of innocent passage through the territorial sea of the third State. The rules for the exercise of such a right are laid down in Section 3, Part II of the Convention.

Question 27

Article 17

Right of Innocent Passage

Answer 27

Subject to this Convention, ships of all States, whether coastal or land-locked, enjoy the right of innocent passage through the territorial sea.

Question 28

1st Meaning of Passage under Article 18

Answer 28

1. Passage means navigation through the territorial sea for the purpose of:
   A. Traversing that sea without entering internal waters or calling at a roadstead or port facility outside internal waters; or
   B. Proceeding to or from internal waters or a call at such road stead or port facility.

Question 29

2nd Meaning of Passage under Article 18

Answer 29

Passage shall be continuous and expeditious. However, passage includes stopping and anchoring, but only in so far as the same are incidental to ordinary navigation or are rendered necessary by force majeure or distress or for the purpose of rendering assistance to persons, ships or aircraft in danger or distress.

Question 30

What is Article 19

Answer 30

provides that passage is innocent so long as it is not prejudicial to the peace, good order or security of the coastal State.

Question 31

1st meaning of innocent passage Article 19

Answer 31

Passage is innocent so long as it is not prejudicial to the peace, good order or security of the coastal State. Such passage shall take place in conformity with this Convention and with other rules of international law.

Question 32

2nd meaning of innocent passage Article 19
Passage of a foreign ship shall be considered to be prejudicial to the peace, good order or security of the coastal State if in the territorial sea it engages in any of the following activities:

Answer 32

A. Any threat or use of force against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of the coastal State, or in any other manner in violation of the principles of international law embodied in the Charter of the United Nations;
B. Any exercise or practice with weapons of any kind;
C. Any act aimed at collecting information to the prejudice of the defence or security of the coastal State;
D. Any act of propaganda aimed at affecting the defence or security of the coastal State;

Question 33

Can the rights of innocent passage and archipelagic sea lanes passage be enforced over internal waters?

Answer 33

➢ Yes, with the conversion of internal waters to archipelagic waters in the UNCLOS III, as mentioned in Article 52, “all of the ships of all states will enjoy the right of innocent passage through archipelagic waters”, thus, including the internal waters. As for the archipelagic sealanes,it is further stated that the regime of archipelagic sea lanes passage will not affect the status of its archipelagic.

Question 34

Article 8

Internal waters, what are the 2 salient points.

Answer 34

1. Except as provided in Part IV, waters on the landward side of the baseline of the territorial sea form part of the internal waters of the State.
2. Where the establishment of a straight baseline in accordance with the method set forth in article 7 has the effect of enclosing as internal waters areas which had not previously been considered as such, a right of innocent passage as provided in this Convention shall exist in those waters.

Question 35

Article 52

Right of innocent passage, Describe

Answer 35

1. Subject to article 53 and without prejudice to article 50, ships of all States enjoy the right of innocent passage through archipelagic waters, in accordance with Part II, section 3.
2. The archipelagic State may, without discrimination in form or in fact among foreign ships, suspend temporarily in specified areas of its archipelagic waters the innocent passage of foreign ships if such suspension is essential for the protection of its security. Such suspension shall take effect only after having been duly published.
   ➢ Foreign vessels have no right of passage within internal waters.

Question 36

Article 53

Right of archipelagic sea lanes passage, Describe

Answer 36

1. An archipelagic State may designate sea lanes and air routes thereabove, suitable for the continuous and expeditious passage of foreign ships and aircraft through or over its archipelagic waters and the adjacent territorial sea.
2. All ships and aircraft enjoy the right of archipelagic sea lanes passage in such sea lanes and air routes.
3. Archipelagic sea lanes passage means the exercise in accordance with this Convention of the rights of navigation and overflight in the normal mode solely for the purpose of continuous, expeditious and unobstructed transit between one part 29
   of the high seas or an exclusive economic zone and another part of the high seas or an exclusive economic zone.
4. Such sea lanes and air routes shall traverse the archipelagic waters and the adjacent territorial sea and shall include all normal passage routes used as routes for international navigation or overflight through or over archipelagic waters and, within such routes, so far as ships are concerned, all normal navigational channels, provided that duplication of routes of similar convenience between the same entry and exit points shall not be necessary.
5. Such sea lanes and air routes shall be defined by a series of continuous axis lines from the entry points of passage routes to the exit points. Ships and aircraft in archipelagic sea lanes passage shall not deviate more than 25 nautical miles to either side of such axis lines during passage, provided that such ships and aircraft shall not navigate closer to the coasts than 10 percent of the distance between the nearest points on islands bordering the sea lane.
6. An archipelagic State which designates sea lanes under this article may also prescribe traffic separation schemes for the safe passage of ships through narrow channels in such sea lanes.
7. An archipelagic State may, when circumstances require, after giving due publicity thereto, substitute other sea lanes or traffic separation schemes for any sea lanes or traffic separation schemes previously designated or prescribed by it.
8. Such sea lanes and traffic separation schemes shall conform to generally accepted international regulations.
9. In designating or substituting sea lanes or prescribing or substituting traffic separation schemes, an archipelagic State shall refer proposals to the competent international organization with a view to their adoption. The organization may adopt only such sea lanes and traffic separation schemes as may be agreed with the archipelagic State, after which the archipelagic State may designate, prescribe or substitute them.
10. The archipelagic State shall clearly indicate the axis of the sealanes and the traffic separation schemes designated or prescribed by it on charts to which due publicity shall be given.
    KNOWLEDGE PORTFOLIO – MODULE 5
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11. Ships in archipelagic sea lanes passage shall respect applicable sea lanes and traffic separation schemes established in accordance with this article.
12. If an archipelagic State does not designate sealanes or air routes, the right of archipelagic sea lanes passage may be exercised through the routes normally used for international navigation. 11. Ships in archipelagic sea lanes passage shall respect applicable sea lanes and traffic separation schemes established in accordance with this article.
13. If an archipelagic State does not designate sealanes or air routes, the right of archipelagic sea lanes passage may be exercised through the routes normally used for international navigation.

Question 37

2 methods of defining baselines?

Answer 37

The normal baselines and the straight baseline are the 2 methods of defining baselines.

Question 38

What are the legal bases of these 2 modes/methods?

Answer 38

The normal baseline, Article 5 of the UNCLOS III. The Straight Baseline, Article 7 of the UNCLOS III.

Question 39

What method does the Philippines use in defining its baselines?

Answer 39

➢ The second sentence of Article I constitutionalizes the Archipelago Doctrine. Thus, “ the waters around. between and connecting islands of the archipelago, regardless of their breadth and dimensions, form part of the internal waters of the Philippines.” This provision applies the straight baseline method, under which straight lines are made to connect appropriate points on the coast without departing radically from its general direction.

Question 40

Short explanation of the laws that defined them:
Baselines 6.2
RA 3046

Answer 40

An Act Define the Baselines of the Territorial Sea of the Philippines
Republic Act No. 3046
-It is the law that was passed in 1961, demarcating the maritime baselines of the Philippines as an archipelagic state. The law states ,”Constitution of the Philippines describes the national territory as comprising all the territory ceded to the United States by the Treaty of Paris concluded between the United States and Spain on December 10, 1898, the limits of which are set forth in Article III of said treaty, together with all the islands embraced in the treaty concluded at Washington, between the United States and Spain on November 7, 1900, and in the treaty concluded between the United States and Great Britain on January 2, 1930, and all the territory over which the Government of the Philippine Islands exercised jurisdiction at the time of the adoption of the Constitution”.

Philippines traces its present title to that of the United States, as its successor-state to the territory ceded by Spain to the United States. The Philippines claims that it acquired its current territorial boundaries marked on the map by what is called the “Philippine Treaty Limits” on the basis of three treaties: first, the Treaty of Paris between Spain and the United States of 10 December 1898; second, the Treaty of Washington between the United States and Spain of 7 November 1900; and lastly, the Treaty concluded between the United States and Great Britain on 2 January 1930.

Question 41

The law claims that part of the Philippine Territory:

Answer 41

➢ waters within the limits set forth in the above-mentioned treaties have always been regarded as part of the territory of the Philippine Islands ➢ all the waters around, between and connecting the various islands of the Philippines archipelago, irrespective of their width or dimension, have always been considered as necessary appurtenances of the land territory, forming part of the inland or internal waters of the Philippines ➢ all the waters beyond the outermost islands of the archipelago but within the limits of the boundaries set forth in the aforementioned treaties comprise the territorial sea of the Philippines ➢ the baselines from which the territorial sea of the Philippines is determined consist of straight lines joining appropriate points of the outermost islands of the archipelago;

Question 42

Republic Act No. 5446 of 1968 to amend section one of the Republic Act No. 3046 to define the baselines and the territorial sea of the Philippines

Answer 42

➢ This Act describes with geographical coordinates the baselines of the territorial sea of the Philippines. The definition of the baselines of the territorial sea of the Philippine Archipelago as provided as provided for in this Act is without prejudice to the delineation of the baselines of the territorial sea around the territory of Sabah, situated in North Borneo, over which the Republic of the Philippines has acquired dominion and sovereignty.

Question 43

Article 47, UNCLOS III

Answer 43

➢ Article 47 of UNCLOS enumerates several precise and objective tests that a State must satisfy before it can draw archipelagic straight baselines.

Question 44

Article 47 states

Answer 44

1. An archipelagic State may draw straight archipelagic baselines joining the outermost points of the outermost islands and drying reefs of the archipelago provided that within such baselines are included the main islands and an area in which the ratio of the area of the water to the area of the land, including atolls, is between 1 to 1 and 9 to 1 2. The length of such baselines shall not exceed 100 nautical miles, except that up to 3 per cent of the total number of baselines enclosing any archipelago may exceed that length, up to a maximum length of 125 nautical miles. 3. The drawing of such baselines shall not depart to any appreciable extent from the general configuration of the archipelago. 4. Such baselines shall not be drawn to and from low-tide elevations, unless lighthouses or similar installations which are permanently above sea level have been built on them or where a low-tide elevation is situated wholly or partly at a distance not exceeding the breadth of the territorial sea from the nearest island. 5. The system of such baselines shall not be applied by an archipelagic State in such a manner as to cut off from the high seas or the exclusive economic zone the territorial sea of another State. 6. If a part of the archipelagic waters of an archipelagic State lies between two parts of an immediately adjacent neighbouring State, existing rights and all other legitimate interests which the latter State has traditionally exercised in such waters and all rights stipulated by agreement between those States shall continue and be respected.
2. For the purpose of computing the ratio of water to land under paragraph l, land areas may include waters lying within the fringing reefs of islands and atolls, including that part of a steep-sided oceanic plateau which is enclosed or nearly enclosed by a chain of limestone islands and drying reefs lying on the perimeter of the plateau.
3. The baselines drawn in accordance with this article shall be shown on charts of a scale or scales adequate for ascertaining their position. Alternatively, lists of geographical coordinates of points, specifying the geodetic datum, may be substituted.
4. The archipelagic State shall give due publicity to such charts or lists of geographical coordinates and shall deposit a copy of each such chart or list with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Question 45

The RA 5446 is an act to amend Section 1 of RA 3046, entitled

Answer 45

“AN ACT TO DEFINE THE BASELINES OF THE TERRITORIAL SEA OF THE PHILIPPINES”,

Question 46

What changes did RA 9522 effect to the Phil’s baselines in compliance with UNCLOS III?

Answer 46

➢ UNCLOS III prescribes the water-land ratio, length, and contour of baselines of archipelagic States like the Philippines and sets the deadline for the filing of application for the extended continental shelf.
➢ Complying with the requirements of UNCLOS III, RA 9522 shortened one baseline, optimized the location of some basepoints around the Philippine archipelago and classified adjacent territories, namely, the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) and the Scarborough Shoal, as “regimes of islands” whose islands generate their own applicable maritime zones.

Question 47

Petitioners argue that RA 9522 reduces maritime territory and the reach of Philippines’ sovereign power. Explain how this was argued.

Answer 47

➢ Petitioners submit that RA 9522 “dismembers a large portion of the national territory” because it discards the pre-UNCLOS III demarcation of Philippine territory under the Treaty of Paris and related treaties, successively encoded in the deFInition of national territory under the 1935, 1973 and 1987 Constitutions. ➢ They theorize that the constitutional deFInition trumps any treaty or statutory provision denying the Philippines sovereign control over waters, beyond the territorial sea recognized at the time of the Treaty of Paris, that Spain supposedly ceded to the United States. Petitioners argue that from the Treaty of Paris’ technical description, Philippine sovereignty over territorial waters extends hundreds of nautical miles around the Philippine archipelago, embracing the rectangular area delineated in the Treaty of Paris.

Question 48

SECTION 4. CONTIGUOUS ZONE

Article 33 Contiguous zone, Describe

Answer 48

1. In a zone contiguous to its territorial sea, described as the contiguous zone, the coastal State may exercise the control necessary to:
   A. prevent infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws and regulations within its territory or territorial sea;
   B. punish infringement of the above laws and regulations committed within its territory or territorial sea.
2. The contiguous zone may not extend beyond 24 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured. ➢ The Philippines has the right to both prevent and punish infringement of fiscal, immigration, sanitary, and customs laws within its territory and territorial sea. Unlike the territorial sea, the contiguous zone only gives jurisdiction to a State on the ocean’s surface and floor. It does not provide air and space rights.

Question 49

Article 48
Measurement of the breadth of the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf, describe.

Answer 49

The breadth of the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf shall be measured from archipelagic baselines drawn in accordance with article 47.
➢ Beyond the 12 nautical mile limit there was a further 12 nautical miles or 24 nautical miles from the territorial sea baselines limit, the contiguous zone, in which a state could continue to enforce laws regarding activities such as smuggling or illegal immigration.

Question 50

PART V
EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE
Article 55
Specific legal regime of the exclusive economic zone, Describe.

Answer 50

The exclusive economic zone is an area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea, subject to the specific legal regime established in this Part, under which the rights and jurisdiction of the coastal State and the rights and freedoms of other States are governed by the relevant provisions of this Convention.

Question 51

Article 56
Rights, jurisdiction and duties of the coastal State in the exclusive
economic zone, describe.

Answer 51

1. In the exclusive economic zone, the coastal State has:
   A. sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring and exploiting, conserving and managing the natural resources, whether living or non-living, of the waters superjacent to the seabed and of the seabed and its subsoil, and with regard to other activities for the economic exploitation and exploration of the zone, such as the production of energy from the water, currents and winds;
   B. jurisdiction as provided for in the relevant provisions of this Convention with regard to:
   (i) the establishment and use of artificial islands, installations and structures;
   (ii) marine scientific research;
   (iii) the protection and preservation of the marine environment;
   C. other rights and duties provided for in this Convention.
2. In exercising its rights and performing its duties under this Convention in the exclusive economic zone, the coastal State shall have due regard to the rights and duties of other States and shall act in a manner compatible with the provisions of this Convention.
3. The rights set out in this article with respect to the seabed and subsoil shall be exercised in accordance with Part VI.
   ➢ Significantly, this is where the Philippines enjoys the exclusive right to explore, exploit, conserve, and manage the maritime resources of the sea, icluding the minerals on its seabed and subsoil.

Question 52

Article 57

Breadth of the exclusive economic zone, describe.

Answer 52

The exclusive economic zone shall not extend beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured

Question 53

Article 58

Rights and duties of other States in the exclusive economic zone,describe

Answer 53

1. In the exclusive economic zone, all States, whether coastal or land-locked, enjoy, subject to the relevant provisions of this Convention, the freedoms referred to in article 87 of navigation and overflight and of the laying of submarine cables and pipelines, and other internationally lawful uses of the sea related to these freedoms, such as those associated with the operation of ships, aircraft and submarine cables and pipelines, and compatible with the other provisions of this Convention.
2. Articles 88 to 115 and other pertinent rules of international law apply to the exclusive economic zone in so far as they are not incompatible with this Part. 3. In exercising their rights and performing their duties under this Convention in the exclusive economic zone, States shall have due regard to the rights and duties of the coastal State and shall comply with the laws and regulations adopted by the coastal State in accordance with the provisions of this Convention and other rules of international law in so far as they are not incompatible with this Part.