MANILA, Philippines—Without fanfare, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has signed into law the controversial measure defining the Philippines’ archipelagic baselines and claims on mineral-rich areas in the South China Sea.
Ms Arroyo signed Republic Act No. 9522 (or the Philippine Archipelagic Baselines Law) on Tuesday in Malacańang minus the formal ceremony that often marks the signing of key legislation, perhaps hoping to avoid controversy with other nations.
The law defines the “general configuration” of the archipelago, including the extended continental shelf (ECS) and exclusive economic zone (EEZ), to make it more compliant with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
It excludes the disputed Kalayaan Group of Islands and Scarborough Shoal from the archipelago, but treats these as part of a “regime of islands.”
The government had raced against time to pass the law ahead of the May 13 UN deadline for the submission of a country’s claims on areas in the ECS, the seabed beyond the 200-nautical mile continental shelf.
Sellout
But Nueva Ecija Rep. Edno Joson maintained his objection to the measure, saying it gave the Filipino people the short end of the stick.
Joson said he would instruct his legal staff to study RA 9522 in order to determine if there was a strong basis to take the issue to court.
Representatives Satur Ocampo and Teodoro Casińo of the militant party-list group Bayan Muna had objected to the final version of the measure, saying it was essentially a sellout of Philippine sovereignty.
Like Joson, they said they would consult with their lawyers to determine the best grounds for a legal challenge.
The ECS covering some parts of the disputed Spratly Islands is rich in fishery and mineral resources. And unless a law was passed, this area will become part of the international seabed or be awarded to neighboring states, officials had said.
The signing was done less than a month after China disputed the Philippines’ claim on Scarborough Shoal and other parts of the Spratlys, saying it had “indisputable sovereignty” over these islands.
Beijing said the provision on the “regime of islands” violated its sovereignty.
The Spratlys are being claimed wholly or partly by the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei.
ASEAN Code of Conduct
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Wednesday: “We are sending the message to the whole world that we’re affirming our national sovereignty. We’re telling them we’re asserting our sovereignty because that’s the right thing to do.”
Ermita said any fresh disputes that would arise over RA 9522 could be resolved based on the Code of Conduct between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China.
Taiwan is also claiming the Spratlys, but was not a signatory to the code.
“Whatever problems we may have, whatever action will be contested, will have to be done in accordance with the Code of Conduct we have agreed upon between ASEAN and China,” he told reporters in a joint briefing with Foreign Affairs Director Henry Bensurto.
Defending RA 9522, Bensurto said: “It’s a law, first and foremost, for the purpose of complying with UNCLOS mindful of the ASEAN Code of Conduct.”
The UNCLOS lays down the requirements by which archipelagos like the Philippines can draw their baselines, hence the need to pass a baselines law, said Bensurto, who is also the secretary general of the Commission on Maritime and Oceanic Affairs Secretariat.
Ermita hailed the enactment of the measure, arguing that this was crucial for the Philippines to maximize the use of resources in its maritime borders.
“There’s a need to submit this to the UN because all the activities within that continental shelf accrue to the benefit of the national interest. There are many minerals, aquatic resources, and everything else our country needs,” he said.
Reckoning point
The baseline is the “reckoning point” for the delineation of the ECS, officials had said.
In the new law, 101 baseline points from Aparri in Cagayan to Jolo in Sulu were plotted and straight lines were drawn to connect these points to come up with the archipelagic baselines, according to Bensurto.
“If you’re an archipelago by geological definition, you should be allowed to draw straight baselines to enclose the archipelago, and you do this by defining the outermost points of the outermost islands,” he said.
According to Ermita, the ECS and the EEC were drawn based on these baselines.
“[Kalayaan and Scarborough Shoal] are not within the baselines law because they are already considered Philippine territory based on a Marcos presidential decree (PD 1596),” he said.
RA 9522 seeks to amend RA 3046 and 5446, which defined Philippine baselines that did not jibe with the UNCLOS.
Section 2 of the law states that the Philippines also exercises sovereignty and jurisdiction over Kalayaan and Scarborough Shoal, also known as Bajo de Masinloc.
“Baselines are limited to the main archipelago. But since the Philippine territory, as provided in Article I of the Constitution, speaks of archipelago and other islands, those geological features that are not within the geological definition of the archipelago are treated as a regime of islands,” Bensurto said.
Conceding the fight
Section 3 of RA 9522 states: “This Act affirms that the Republic of the Philippines has dominion, sovereignty and jurisdiction over all portions of the national territory as defined in the Constitution and by provisions of applicable laws including, without limitation, [RA] No. 7160, otherwise known as the Local Government Code of 1991, as amended.”
But Joson said in a phone interview: “It is important to determine the national territory. In this law, it seems that we are at a disadvantage.”
Joson had earlier said that disputes over territorial claims should be settled through international arbitration instead of the Philippines’ seeming concession of the fight through the baselines law.
He had also lamented that the House of Representatives’ contingent to the bicameral conference committee did not push hard enough for its “patriotic” version of the baselines bill, which included Kalayaan and Scarborough Shoal within the Philippines’ territorial limits. With a report from Leila B. Salaverria
