Political Law Part III: Article I – The

National Territory
POLITICAL LAW PART III
ARTICLE I – THE NATIONAL TERRITORY
Section 1. The national territory comprises the Philippine Archipelago, with all the islands and
waters embraced therein, and all 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.

1.   What is the most significant change in this Article, compared with those of the 1935 and 1973
Constitutions?

2.  What is the archipelago theory or archipelagic doctrine?

3.  Methods used in fixing the baseline from which the territorial belt is measured:

a. The normal baseline method

b. The straight baseline method

4.   Read: The Law of the Sea: Its major implications to the Philippines, by Justice Jorge R.
Coquia, p. 31, Philippine Law Gazette, Vol. 8, No.1.

5.   R.A. 3046

R.A. 5446

6.   Definitions:

a. Territorial sea

b. Internal or inland waters

c. high seas or international seas

d. sea-bed

e. sub-soil

f. Insular shelves
g. other submarine areas

7.  Reason and effect of having an Article on the National Territory.

8. Read:

1)  Presidential Decree No. 1596 – June 11,    1978 (Making the Kalayaan Island Group
[Freedomland] as part of the Philippine Territory)

2)  Presidential Decree No. 1599 – June 11,  1978 (Declaring the Exclusive Economic Zone of the
Philippines which is 200 nautical miles from its baseline)

Reference:
Political Law Reviewer by Atty. Larry D. Gacayan
College of Law, University of the Cordilleras
Baguio City