Bill creating archipelagic sea lanes reaches Senate floor

Sen. Francis Tolentino —Nelson Ortiz/Senate PRIB

MANILA, Philippines — The bill proposing the creation of a system of sea lanes along the country’s waters reached the Senate floor on Monday.

Senator Francis Tolentino stood before the plenary to sponsor Senate Bill No. 2665, or the “Philippine Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act.”

The bill was authored by Tolentino, Senators Aquilino Pimentel III, Jinggoy Estrada, Sherwin Gatchalian, Raffy Tulfo and Bato dela Raso.

READ: House passes on 2nd reading bill establishing archipelagic sea lanes

In his sponsorship speech, Tolentino said the bill aims to establish a system of sea lanes in the Philippine waters by connecting the coordinates of the following access lines:

• Philippine Sea-Balintang Channel-West Philippine Sea
• Celebes Sea-Sibutu Passage-Sulu Sea-Cuyo East Pass-Mindoro Strait=West Philippine Sea
• Celebes Sea-Basilan Strait-Sulu Sea-Nasubata Channel-Balabac Strait-West Philippine Sea

“We need these archipelagic sea lanes because we are made up of so many islands — 7,641 islands,” said Tolentino.

“The international community afforded us the right to do so, and we have earned our legal and international recognition in no less than the UN Convention of the Sea (Unclos),” he added.

Under Unclos article 53 paragraph 1, an archipelagic state may designate sea lanes and air routes suitable for continuous and expeditious passage of foreign ships and aircraft through and above or over its archipelagic waters and adjacent territorial sea.

“But we need an enabling law, we need this for our national security; we need this for jurisdictional clarity; and we need this for resource management,” the senator said.