PH Maritime Zones bill one step away from enactment

 

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives has ratified a committee report on the final version of the proposed Philippine Maritime Zones Act, which seeks to establish the actual jurisdiction of the country based on laws and international rulings.

At the plenary session on Tuesday, lawmakers approved the bicameral conference committee report on the disagreeing provisions of House Bill (HB) No. 7819 and Senate Bill (SB) No. 2492 via viva voce or voice voting.

The Senate on the other hand ratified the bicam report during their session on Monday.  With this development, the bill will now be up for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s signature.

Senator Francis Tolentino, chairperson of the Senate’s special panel on maritime and admiralty zones, said the bicam panel agreed to adopt the Senate version of the measure, but with “an amendment on the reciprocity provision”.

 “Once the bill becomes the Maritime Zones Act after the President signed it into law, the Philippines shall exercise all other maritime rights and jurisdictions per United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the 2016 South China Sea arbitral award, international law, and other pertinent laws and regulations of the Philippines,” Tolentino said.

 Under the House version of the bill, the following would be included in the country’s maritime zones:

• internal waters
• archipelagic waters
• territorial sea
• contiguous zone
• exclusive economic zone (EEZ)
• continental shelf

This is not the first proposed Philippine Maritime Zones Act tackled by the Congress.  In December 2021, the House of Representatives approved a similar bill.

Then Senate president Vicente Sotto III urged then president Rodrigo Duterte to certify the bill as urgent, but it was not passed during the 18th Congress.