1935 Constitution

The Philippines comprises all the territory ceded to the United

States by the Treaty of Paris concluded between the United States
and Spain on the tenth day of December, eighteen hundred and
ninety-eight, the limits which are set forth in Article III of said
treaty, together with all the islands embraced in the treaty
concluded at Washington between the United States and Spain on
the seventh day of November, nineteen hundred, and the treaty
concluded between the United States and Great Britain on the
second day of January, nineteen hundred and thirty, and all
territory over which the present Government of the Philippine
Islands exercises jurisdiction.




1973 Constitution

The national territory comprises the Philippine archipelago, with all
the islands and waters embraced therein, and all the other
territories belonging to the Philippines by historic right or legal
title, including the territorial sea, the airspace, the subsoil, the
seabed, the insular shelves and the other submarine areas over
which the Philippines has sovereignty or jurisdiction. The waters
around, between and connecting the islands of the archipelago,
irrespective or their breadth and dimensions, form part of the
internal waters of the Philippines.


1987 Constitution

The national territory comprises the Philippine archipelago, with all
the islands and waters embraced therein, and all the other
territories over which the Philippines has sovereignty or
jurisdiction, consisting of its terrestrial, fluvial and aerial domains,
including its territorial sea, the seabed, the subsoil, the insular
shelves, and other submarine areas. The waters around, between,
and connecting the islands of the archipelago, regardless of their
breadth and dimensions, form part of the internal waters of the
Philippines.

RA 5446 (1968 Baseline Law)

The definition of the baselines of the territorial sea of the
Philippine Archipelago as provided in this Act without prejudice to
the delineation of the baselines of the territorial sea around the
territory of Sabah, over which the Philippines has acquired
dominion and sovereignty.



Old Philippine Baseline Law

Republic Act No. 3046, An Act to Define the Baselines of the
Territorial Sea of the Philippines (17 June 1961), as amended by
Republic Act No. 5446, An Act to Define the Baselines of the
Territorial Sea of the Philippines (18 September 1968)

All the waters around, between and connecting the various islands
of the Philippine archipelago, irrespective of their width or
dimension [are] necessary appurtenances of the land territory,
forming part of the inland or internal waters of the Philippines.
In addition, all the waters beyond the outermost islands of the
archipelago, but within the limits of the Treaty of Paris comprise
the territorial sea of the Philippines.
Finally, this statute indicates that the baselines will consist of
straight lines joining appropriate points of the outermost islands of
the archipelago.


Other Relevant Marcos Issuances

Presidential Proclamation No. 370, declaring as subject to the
jurisdiction and control of the Republic of the Philippines all
mineral and other natural resources in the continental shelf.
(March 20, 1968)

Presidential Decree No. 1599, establishing an Exclusive Economic
Zone and for other purposes. (June 11, 1978)
Kalayaan Islands Group

Presidential Decree No. 1596, declaring certain part of the Philippine
territory
and providing for their government and administration. (June 11,
1978)

Whereas, by reason of their proximity the cluster of islands and
islets in the South China Sea situated within the following:
Kalayaan Island Groups are vital to the security and economic
survival of the Philippines;
Whereas, much of the above area is part of the continental margin
of the Philippine archipelago;
Whereas, these areas do not legally belong to any state or nation
but, by reason of history, indispensable need, and effective
occupation and control established in accordance with the
international law, such areas must now deemed to belong and
subject to the sovereignty of the Philippines;
Whereas, while other states have laid claims to some of these
areas, their claims have lapsed by abandonment and cannot
prevail over that of the Philippines on legal, historical, and
equitable grounds.



RA 9522 (2008 Baseline Law)

Identical baseline with 1961 Baseline Law (RA 5446)

The Kalayaan Island Group declared as belonging and subject to
the sovereignty of the Philippines under Presidential Decree No.
1596, and the Scarborough Shoal, over which the Philippines
exercises sovereignty and jurisdiction, shall be considered as
regime of islands of the Republic of the Philippines under Article
121 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
(UNCLOS).

This act shall be without prejudice to Philippine dominion and
sovereignty over all portions of the national territory as defined
under Article 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of the
Philippines and by applicable law.

UNCLOS

Ratified by the Philippines in August 1983

An archipelagic state may draw straight archipelagic baselines
joining the outermost points of the outermost islands and drying
reefs of the archipelago. (Art. 47, Sec. 1, UNCLOS)

The drawing of such baselines shall not depart to any appreciable
extent from the general configuration of the archipelago. (Art. 47,
Sec. 3, UNCLOS)


The waters within the baselines shall be considered internal
waters;

Territorial waters 12 nautical miles from the baselines;

Contiguous Zone 24 nautical miles from the baselines;

Exclusive Economic Zone -- 200 nautical miles from the baselines.

Magallona vs. Ermita
G.R. No. 187167, July 16, 2011

UNCLOS III and its ancillary baselines laws play no role in the
acquisition, enlargement or, as petitioners claim, diminution of
territory. Under traditional international law typology, States
acquire territory through occupation, accretion, cession and
prescription, not by executing multilateral treaties on the
regulations of sea-use rights or enacting statutes to comply with
the treatys terms to delimit maritime zones and continental
shelves. Territorial claims to land features are outside UNCLOS III,
and are instead governed by the rules on general international
law.

UNCLOS III has nothing to do with the acquisition (or loss) of
territory. It is a multilateral treaty regulating, among others, sea-
use rights over maritime zones.