Article 1 National Territory
virtue of the Treaty of Paris
Territory
 Territory is the fixed portion of the
surface of the earth inhabited by the
people of the state.
 Territory as an element of a state means
an area over which a state has effective
control.
Fact:
The definition of national territory is usually
not found in the constitution of other
countries.
Necessity of Constitutional Provision
 Binding force of such provision under
the international law.
 Value of provision defining our national
territory.
 Acquisition of other territories.
Scope of National Territory
 The Philippine Archipelago
 All other territories over which the
Philippines has sovereignty or
jurisdiction.
 Other areas included in the Philippine
Archipelago.
The Philippine Archipelago.
 Definition
o Greek word “pelagos” meaning
“sea”.
o Part of sea studded with islands.
o Large group of islands in an
extensive body of water such as
sea.
 Philippine Archipelago
o Composed of 3 main parts. Luzon
(North), Visayas (Center) and
Mindanao (South).
o Estimated 7641 islands.
 Territories Covered under the definition
of Article 1. (1935 Constitution)
o Treaty of Paris (1898)
Those ceded to the US by
on December 10, 1898.
o Treaty of Washington (1990)
 Those defined in the treaty
concluded between the US
and Spain (Treaty of
Washington) on November
7, 1990, which were not
defined in the Treaty of
Paris, specifically the
islands of Cagayan, Sulu
and Sibuto.
o Treaty with Great Britain (1930)
 Those defined in the treaty
concluded on January 2,
1930, between the US and
Great Britain (Treaty with
Great Britain), specifically
the Turtle and Mangsee
islands.
All other territories over which the Philippines
has sovereignty or jurisdiction.
 Pending Philippine claim
o “All other territories belonging to
the Philippines by historic right or
legal title” (1973 Constitution)
o Sabah
o Freedom Land (Spratley Islands)
o Marianas Islands (including
Guam)
 Future Claims by the Philippines to other
areas.
Other areas included in the Philippine
Archipelago
 Terrestrial domain (Land)
o Agricultural lands
o Forest or timber
o Mineral lands
o Natural parks
 Fluvial domain (Water)
o Internal waters (National waters)
 Parts of the sea within the
land territory. Considered
 in the same light as rivers, From the standpoint of international law, the
canals, and lakes. waters of the earth are divided into:
o External waters
1. Inland or internal waters.
 Territorial Sea
a. They are the parts of the sea
 Part of the sea
within the land territory. They are
extending 12 N. mi. considered in the same light as
(19 km) from the rivers, canals, and lakes within
low-watermark. the land territory of a state. They
“marginal sea, are sometimes called national
marginal belt, or waters;
marine sea” 2. Territorial sea. (supra.)
 The seabed a. It is the belt of water outside and
 Seafloor or sea parallel to the coastline or to the
bottom. outer limits of the inland or
 Refers to the land internal waters; and
that holds the sea, 3. High or open seas.
lying beyond the a. They are waters that lie seaward
sea shore including of the territorial sea.
mineral and natural
resources. Jurisdiction over navigable waters.
 The subsoil Internal water + Territorial sea =
 Refers to everything Territorial waters
beneath the surface
soil and the sea The inland or internal waters and the
bed. territorial sea together comprise what is
 Insular shelves generally known as the territorial waters of a
 Continental shelves state. Over these waters, a state exercises
 Submerged portions sovereignty to the same extent as its land
of a continent or territory but foreign vessels have the right of
offshore island. innocent passage through the territorial sea,
 Other submarine areas On the other hand, the open seas are
 All areas under the international waters which means that they are
territorial sea. not subject to the sovereignty of any state but
Seamount, trough, every state has equal right of use in them.
trench, basin, bank,
shoal, and reef. Archipelagic Concept/Doctrine
 Contiguous zone Archipelago shall be regarded as single
 24 N. mi from unit.
baseline.
 Exclusive Economic Zone The use of the word "archipelago" in
 200 N. mi from Article I is intended to project the idea that the
baseline. Philippines is an archipelago (a state
 Aerial domain (Air) composed of a number of islands) and bolster
o Airspace (excluding outer space) the archipelagic concept (or archipelago
doctrine) which the Philippines, together with
Three (3)-fold division of Navigable waters Indonesia and other archipelago states, had
espoused in international conferences on the
Law of the Sea.

By this concept is meant that an
archipelago shall be regarded as a single unit,
so that the waters around, between, and
connecting the islands of the archipelago,
irrespective of their breadth and dimensions,
form part of the internal waters of the state,
subject to its exclusive sovereignty.
It is the principle whereby the body of
water studded with islands, or the islands
surrounded with water, is viewed as a unity of
islands and waters together forming one
integrated unit. For this purpose, it requires that
baselines be drawn by connecting the
appropriate points of the “outermost islands to
encircle the islands within the archipelago. We
consider all the waters enclosed by the straight
baselines as internal waters.
Elements of Archipelagic Doctrine
1. Definition of internal waters
2. The straight-line method of delineating the
territorial sea.
Straight Baseline Method- drawn
connecting selected points on the coast without
departing to any appreciable extent from the
general direction of the coast. RA 3046 and RA
5446 have drawn straight baselines around the
Philippines.
(The problem with the straight baseline method
is that it conflicts with the Law of the Sea
because it recognizes the right of innocent
passage in archipelagic waters. That is why we
made a reservation. However, as Bernas
pointed out, the reservation is ad cautelam)
Purposes of Archipelagic Doctrine
1. Territorial Integrity
2. National Security
3. Economic reasons
It is said that the purpose of archipelagic
doctrine is to protect the territorial integrity of
the archipelago. Without it, there would be
"pockets of high seas" between some of our
islands and islets, thus foreign vessels would
be able to pass through these "pockets of
seas" and would have no jurisdiction over
them.
The Philippine Position
The archipelago theory is in reality an
exception to the three (3)-mile rule (now the
12-mile rule). This rule does not adequately
protect Philippine interests at all.
(1) Fatal effect of application of 12-mile
rule upon territorial integrity of the Philippines. -
In the International Convention on the Law of
the Sea held in Geneva in 1958, the Philippine
position was explained¹³ as follows:
"To apply the three-mile rule to the
Philippines, with every island having its own
territorial sea, would have a fatal effect upon
the territorial integrity of the Philippines.
It would mean the dismemberment of
the archipelago with the Sibuyan sea
separating the Visayas, and the Mindanao
Strait and the Sulu isolating Palawan from the
rest of the archipelago.
These and other areas of waters would
cease to be Philippine waters; they would
become international waters or high seas, and
fishing vessels from all nations can enter to get
the fish and other living resources of the sea
which nature and Divine Providence intended
for the Filipinos. Furthermore, warships of even
unfriendly nations could enter these waters and
stay there with perfect legal right to do so. At
the same time, we would lose a large part of
our territory on both sides of the archipelago,
towards the China Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
As long as the Philippine Constitution
stands, as long as the Philippines continues as
one united country, and as long as the
Philippines constitutes one nation, the three-
mile limit can never be acceptable to us."
(2) The Philippines, a single nation and
a united State. - In a statement before the Sub-
Committee II of the Committee on Peaceful
Uses of the Seabed and the Ocean Floor
Beyond the Limits of National Jurisdiction at
References:
Geneva on August 16, 1971, the Solicitor
General of the Philippines reiterated the https://www.vyronloares.com/national-territory-
reasons why the over 7,000 islands composing of-the-philippines-art-i
the Philippines should be treated as one whole
unit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=AuHQvtQSbyQ
"More than seven thousand islands
comprise the Philippines ruled by one whole file:///C:/Users/LORENZ/Downloads/Political-
unitary government, bound by a common Law.pdf
heritage, beholden to the same tradition, https://www.un.org/depts/los/
pursuing the same ideals, interdependent and convention_agreements/texts/unclos/
united politically, economically and socially as unclos_e.pdf
one nation.
To suggest that each island has its own
territorial sea and that baselines must be drawn
around each island is to splinter into 7,000
pieces what is a single nation and a united
state. One need only imagine a map of the
Philippines with territorial seas around each
island and with pockets of high seas in
between islands to realize the absurdity of the
resulting situation. Depending on the breadth of
the territorial sea that may emerge, such
pockets of high seas in the very heart of the
country may be such small areas of no more
than 5 to 10 or 15 square miles. And yet, on
account of this, on the pretext of going to those
pockets of high seas, any vessel may intrude
into the middle of our country, between, for
example, the islands of Bohol and Camiguin
which from shore to shore are separated by no
more than 29 miles."
(3) Archipelago principle fully recognized
by UN Law of the Sea Convention. Even,
therefore, a 12-mile breadth of - the territorial
sea would not be acceptable to the Philippines
as it would still result in having some pockets
within the sea between some islands which
would be considered international waters.15
The archipelago principle and the exclusive
economic zone rights (see Note 11.) are now
fully recognized in the U.N. Law of the Sea
Convention and, therefore, form part of public
international law. It was ratified by the interim
Batasang Pambansa on February 27, 1984.