Dee, Manuel Jr.

2021400127

Magallona v. Ermita, G.R. No. 187167, August 16, 2011

Doctrine:

The Archipelagic Doctrine and the nature of acquiring and losing territory is
propagated in this case.

Facts:

Congress passed RA 3046 which demarcated the baselines of the Philippines

as an archipelagic state. This law would later be amended by RA 9522 which aims
to comply with UNCLOS III as the same was signed by the Philippines. In view of
this, RA 9522 shortened the baseline, optimized the location of some basepoints
around the Philippine archipelago and classified adjacent territories, namely the
KIG and the Scarborough shoal as regimes of islands whose islands generate their
own applicable maritime zones. Petitioners argue that: (1) RA 9522 violates the
Constitution as it reduced the Philippine maritime territory and the reach of the
Philippine state’s sovereign power; (2) RA 9522 opens the country’s waters
landward of the baselines to maritime passages by all vessels and aircrafts,
undermining Philippine sovereignty and national security, contravening the
country’s nuclear-free policy, and damaging marine resources, in violation of
relevant constitutional provisions.

Issue:

Whether or not RA 9522 is unconstitutional.

Held:
 No. UNCLOS III has nothing to do with the acquisition or loss of territory.
It is a multilateral treaty regulating sea-use right over maritime zones, exclusive
economic zone, and continental shelves that UNCLOS III delimits. RA 9522 marks
out specific basepoints along their coasts from which baselines are drawn as
geographic starting points to measure the breadth of maritime zones and
continental shelf. This is because Article 48 of UNCLOS III states that the breadth
of the territorial sea, contiguous zone, the EEZ, and the continental shelf shall be
measured from archipelagic baselines.

RA 9522 therefore, only defines the scope of the maritime space and
submarine areas where the state may exercise treaty-based rights as:

1. Exercise of sovereignty over territorial waters.

2. Jurisdiction to enforce customs, fiscal, immigration, and sanitation
laws in the contiguous zone.
3. The right to exploit the living and non-living resources in the EEZ
and continental shelf.

UNCLOS III and its ancillary baselines laws play no vital role in the acquisition,
enlargement, or diminution of territory as under traditional international law as it is
only acquired through:

1. Occupation
2. Accretion
3. Cession
4. Prescription

Territorial claims to land features are outside UNCLOS III and are instead
governed by the rules on general international law.