INTERNAL WATERS

A nation's internal waters cover all water and waterways on the landward side of the baseline from which a nation's territorial waters is defined. It includes waterways such as rivers and canals, and sometimes the water within small bays. According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the coastal nation is free to set laws, regulate any use, and use any resource. Foreign vessels have no right of passage within internal waters, and this lack of right to innocent passage is the key difference between internal waters and territorial waters.

TERRITORIAL WATERS
Territorial waters, or a territorial sea, as defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,[1] is a belt of coastal waters extending at most 12 nautical miles (22 km; 14 mi) from the baseline (usually the mean low-water mark) of a coastal state. The territorial sea is regarded as the sovereign territory of the state, although foreign ships (both military and civilian) are allowed innocent passage through it; this sovereignty also extends to the airspace over and seabed below. The term "territorial waters" is also sometimes used informally to describe any area of water over which a state has jurisdiction, including internal waters, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone and potentially the continental shelf.

CONTIGOUS ZONE
The contiguous zone is a band of water extending from the outer edge of the territorial sea to up to 24 nautical miles (44 km; 28 mi) from the baseline, within which a state can exert limited control for the purpose of preventing or punishing "infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws and regulations within its territory or territorial sea". This will typically be 12 nautical miles (22 km; 14 mi) wide, but could be more (if a state has chosen to claim a territorial sea of less than 12 nautical miles), or less, if it would otherwise overlap another state's contiguous zone. However, unlike the territorial sea there is no standard rule for resolving such conflicts, and the states in question must negotiate their own compromise. The United States invoked a contiguous zone on 24 September 1999

EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE

An exclusive economic zone extends from the outer limit of the territorial sea to a maximum of 200 nautical miles (370.4 km) from the territorial sea baseline, thus it includes the contiguous zone.[3] A coastal nation has control of all economic resources within its exclusive economic zone, including fishing, mining, oil exploration, and any pollution of those resources. However, it cannot prohibit passage or loitering above, on, or under the surface of the sea that is in compliance with the laws and regulations adopted by the coastal State in accordance with the provisions of the UN Convention, within that portion of its exclusive economic zone beyond its territorial sea. Before 1982, coastal nations arbitrarily extended their territorial waters in an effort to control activities which are now regulated by the exclusive economic zone, such as offshore oil exploration or fishing rights (see Cod Wars). Indeed, the exclusive economic zone is still popularly, though erroneously, called a coastal nation's territorial waters.

TERRITORIAL SEA
TERRITORIAL SEA is an adjacent belt of sea with a breadth of 12 nautical miles measured from the baselines of a state and over which the state has sovereignty. (Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention on the Law of the Sea.) Ship of all states enjoy the right of innocent passage Under Section 1, Article I of the 1987 Constitution, the INTERNAL WATERS of the Philippines consist of the waters around, between and connecting the islands of the Philippine Archipelago, regardless of their breadth and dimensions, including the waters in bays, rivers and lakes. No right of innocent passage for foreign vessels exists in the case of internal waters. (Harris, Cases and Materials on International Law, 5th ed., 1998, p. 407.) Internal waters are the waters on the landward side of baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is calculated. (Brownlie, Principles of Public International Law, 4th ed., 1990, p. 120.)

OPEN SEA
That part of the ocean not enclosed by headlands, not within narrow straits, and so on. That part of the ocean outside the territorial jurisdiction of any country.

INSULAR SHELVES
Insular shelves are usually defined as the existing underwater seabeds that occur just beyond the perimeter of an island within a depth of 600 feet. These natural underwater areas have over the course of time developed a complex ecosystem that supports different types of plant growth and sea life. The topography of the underwater area also influences the action of the sea and any major ocean currents that may be in the area.

PHILIPPINE ARCHIPELAGO
The Philippines is an archipelago of 7,107 islands located in Southeast Asia. It is a democratic unitary presidential republic with diplomatic relations with most other countries in the world and is a participant in the international scene. The Philippines is classed as a developing country although it was once the second largest economy in Asia. Filipinos are mostly of Malay descent with a little Chinese, Spanish and American. The population is predominantly Roman Catholic although there is a large Muslim population in the south. The Philippines was discovered in 1521 by Ferdinand Magellan who was later killed in a battle with local chieftain, Lapu-Lapu. Several decades later, Spain returned and established the Philippines as a colony in 1565. The archipelago remained under Spanish control until 1898 despite brief British occupation of Manila 1762 - 1764. Towards the end of Spanish rule, Filipinos developed a sense of liberalism and nationalism. Individuals such as Dr. Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio sought independence, the former through peaceful negotiation and reform and the latter through outright revolution. Revolution finally came and Filipinos began their struggle for independence which was proclaimed by General Emilio Aguinaldo in 1898. Independence was short lived and 1898 marked the beginning of American colonial rule which lasted until 1946, with three years of occupation from Japan 1943 - 1945. President Ferdinand Marcos proclaimed martial law in 1972 and exercised legislative powers. Martial law was ended in 1981 and the assassination of Ninoy Aquino in 1983 let to the ouster of Marcos in 1986. A number of unsuccessful military coups have been launched against some postMarcos governments but the largest threats to national security are the communist and Muslim

insurgencies. The Philippines is in the UTC +8 time zone and does not observe daylight saving time (DST). The country international telephone calling code is +63 and the country internet TLD is .ph

THE PHILIPPINES AND THE ARCHIPELAGIC DOCTRINE

Archipelago is defined as a sea or part of a sea studded with islands, often synonymous with island groups, or as a large group of islands in an extensive body of water, such as sea. (De Leon, 1991) In various conferences of the United Nations on the Law of the Sea, the Philippines and other archipelago states proposed that an archipelagic state composed of groups of islands forming a state is a single unit, with the islands and the waters within the baselines as internal waters.By this concept (archipelagic doctrine), 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.

Despite the opposition of maritime powers, the Philippines and four other states (Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Bahamas) got the approval in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea held in Jamaica last December 10, 1982. They were qualified as archipelagic states. The archipelagic doctrine is now incorporated in Chapter IV of the said convention. It legalizes the unity of land, water and people into a single entity . The Philippines bolstered the archipelagic principle in defining its territory when it included in Article 1 of the 1987 Constitution the following:

"The national territory comprises the Philippine Archipelago, with all the islands and waters embraced therein xxx"; and "The waters around, between and connecting the islands of the archipelago, regardless of their dimensions, form part of the internal waters of the Philippines." On the strength of these assertions, the Philippines Archipelago is considered as one integrated unit instead of being divided into more than seven thousand islands. The outermost of our archipelago are connected with straight baselines and all waters inside the baselines are considered as internal waters. This makes the large bodies of waters connecting the islands of the archipelago like Mindanao Sea, Sulo Sea and the Sibuyan Sea part of the Philippines as its internal waters, similar to the rivers and lakes found within the islands themselves.

VIELKA SERQUIA