MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE 2) The proposed baselines bill defining the country’s territories has been unanimously approved by the congressional bicameral conference committee, leaders of the committee have announced.

Emerging from a three-hour meeting Monday, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Cebu Representative Antonio Cuenco said the panels of the Senate and the House of Representatives agreed to place the disputed islands under a “regime of islands of the Republic of the Philippines.”

Enrile and Cuenco said they would meet again next week to sign the final copy of the measure.

The House-approved version of the bill includes the Scarborough Shoal and the Kalayaan Island Group in the country's definition of its territory while the Senate version placed the disputed territories under a "regime of islands."

"We finished the bicam conference round one and we agreed on the final text of the law that will emerge," Enrile told reporters.

"It's not the version of the Senate or the House. It's a version of both and it will be a law that was passed by Congress," he said.

From the original version of the Senate placing the Scarborough Shoal and Kalayaan Island Group under a "regime of islands," the panel adopted the House proposal to insert the words "of the Republic of the Philippines."

The proposed legislation, Cuenco said, would now read "under a regime of islands of the Republic of the Philippines.

"As you know, legislation is really the art of the possible and we did everything possible in order to reach an agreement to the benefit of our country," Cuenco said.

"We heard all sides, the pros and cons of the Senate and the House and we came to the conclusion that the best version is the one we approved [which] is a regime of islands under the Republic of the Philippines. Yan naman ang input naming [That is our input]," he said.

"Without our suggestion, without our intervention, the bill of the Senate just said regime of islands period but I worked it out with Miriam and she agreed to insert the words "of the republic of the Philippines" so atin pa rin yun [that is still ours]," he further said.

Cuenco, chairman of the House committee on foreign affairs, was referring to his counterpart in the Senate, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago.

On Speaker Prospero Nograles' suggestion, Cuenco disclosed that they held a "backdoor" conference with Santiago, who agreed with the House panel's proposal.

Enrile said the new version of the bill would also "explicitly mention" the the Kalayaan Island Group as part of Palawan and the Scarborough Shoal, traditionally known as Bajo de Masinloc.

"The House panel was unanimous and so was the Senate panel in agreeing to the bill so walang problema [there’s no problem]," said Cuenco.