Tolentino to Namria: Don’t wait for IRR on sea lanes laws, start mapping

Senator Tolentino talks about the West Philippine Sea Law during the Kapihan forum in Manila on November 13, 2024. Noy Morcoso/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines — “There’s no need for implementing rules to be crafted for them to start mapping. The law itself is enough.”

Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino called out on Wednesday the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (Namria) for supposedly waiting for the New Maritime and Sea Lanes Laws’ implementing rules and regulations (IRR) before acting to update the country’s map.

“We really have to have a new map. I would like to correct Namria. There is no need for implementing rules to be crafted for them to start mapping. The law itself is enough,” said Tolentino.

The senator heads the Senate special panel on maritime and admiralty zones.

“So yung Namria sasabihan ko na: ‘Huwag mo na hintayin yung IRR. Matagal pa yun,’” he added.

(So I will tell Namria: There’s no need to wait for the IRR. That will still take too long.)

Namria on Tuesday released a statement clarifying that specific coordinates of the country’s sea lanes are yet to be fixed.

According to Namria, once the International Maritime Organization and the International Civil Aviation Organization processes are concluded and the specific coordinates are fixed, the sea lanes, with the air routes above them, will take effect six months after their proclamation by the president.

Tolentino said under the newly-signed Philippine Maritime Zones Act and the Philippine Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act, an oversight committee will be assigned to do the following functions:

• Ensure that the maps are properly charted
• Ensure that the entitlements are properly claimed
• Ensure that the necessary legal consequences are properly and positively implemented. (One instance is the Philippines’ right to conduct its own scientific maritime research.)