EDUARDO, RAY BRADLEY B.

19-00327
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW 1

a. Define or explain the Regalian Doctrine.10 pts.

- In the case of Collado vs. Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court based the Regalian Doctrine
on the principle that all lands of the public domain, as well as the natural resources, belong to the
State. It was first introduced by the Spaniards to the Philippines, through the Laws of the Indies
and the Royal Cedulas, which based its principle that all lands that were not acquired from the
government belong to public domain.
Moreover, in the case of Secretary DENR vs. Yap, the Regalian Doctrine rules that the
State is the source of any asserted right to ownership of land and charged with conservation of
such patrimony. The Court further defined that all lands of public domain belong to the State, and
the State can determine if lands of the public domain will be disposed of for private use.

b. Define or explain the Archipelagic Doctrine. 10 pts.

- Pursuant to Article II, Sec. 1 (b), all 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 and all islands, separated by bodies of water, are considered a single unit of the
archipelago.

c. Define or explain the Straight baseline method. 10 pts.

- The entire archipelago is identified by measuring the outermost points of the islands,
extending from those points to 12 nautical miles and connecting each point with an imaginary line.
All waters within the area of the imaginary line shall form part of the internal waters of the
Philippines. Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, it provides that 12 nautical miles
and 200 miles from the baseline shall be the Contiguous Zone and Economic Zone. These zones
may not be part of the territory and jurisdiction of a State but the coastal State has the rights over
the maritime resources within them.