9522 (Philippine Archipelagic Baselines Law) Cubias, Gladys Marie HISTORY • 1888 and 1889: Hamburg Convention
• 1926: 34th conference at Vienna
• 1930: the Hague Conference under the auspices
of· the League of Nations
• 1958/UNCLOS I: representatives of the
Philippines and Indonesia, supported by a number of jurists, made of record their official proposal for recognition of an archipelagic State • 1960 Conference on the Law of the Sea was called to take up the breadth of the territorial sea (UNCLOS II)
• 21 December 1968: Committee on the
Peaceful Uses of the Sea-Bed and Ocean Floor Beyond the Limits of National Jurisdiction. It outlined such Committee's future work. • UNCLOS III: The most significant issues covered were setting limits, navigation, archipelagic status and transit regimes, (EEZs), continental shelf jurisdiction, deep seabed mining, the exploitation regime, protection of the marine environment, scientific research, and settlement of disputes.
• The convention set the limit of various areas,
measured from a carefully defined baseline. BASIC PRINCIPLES OF AN ARCHIPELAGIC STATE • intrinsic geographical, economic and political entity • waters and airspace are subject to the sovereignty • Innocent passage of foreign vessels RA 3046 (patterned from UNCLOS II) “WHEREAS, the Constitution of the Philippines describes the national territory as comprising all the territory ceded to the United States by the Treaty of Paris concluded between the United States and Spain on December 10, 1898, the limits of which are set forth in Article III of said treaty, xxxx” Article 47, UNCLOS III • It provides that: • length of such baselines shall not exceed 100 nautical miles, except that up to 3 per cent of the total number of baselines enclosing any archipelago may exceed that length, up to a maximum length of 125 nautical miles DOMESTIC STRUGGLE • it is not consistent with international law, specifically UNCLOS, no country recognizes it RA 3046 INCONSISTENCIES • The existing 80 baselines delineated under RA 3046 have a total length of 8,174.8974 miles. • Three (3) of these 80 baselines or 2.4% of the total number of baselines exceed 100 miles in length • The baseline to the southeast of Mindanao in the Gulf of Moro is of 140.05 miles in length. This is beyond the 125 miles limit under UNCLOS RA 5446 • “Section 2: The definition of the baselines of the territorial sea of the Philippine Archipelago as provided in this Act is without prejudice to the delineation of the baselines of the territorial sea around the territory of Sabah, situated in North Borneo, over which the Republic of the Philippines has acquired dominion and sovereignty” • RA Pertinent provision: 9522
“SECTION 2. The baselines in the following areas
over which the Philippines likewise exercises sovereignty and jurisdiction shall be determined as “Regime of Islands” under the Republic of the Philippines consistent with Article 121 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS): a) The Kalayaan Island Group as constituted under Presidential Decree No. 1596; and b) Bajo de Masinloc, also known as Scarborough Shoal.” RA 3046 RA 9522
80 baselines 101 baselines
Inconsistent with Article 47 of UNCLOS III Consistent with UNCLOS III
RA 3046 vs. RA 9522 RA 9522: A LEGAL QUESTION • Magallona vs. Executive Secretary Ermita ISSUES:
(1) RA 9522 reduces Philippine maritime territory, and
logically, the reach of the Philippine states sovereign power, in violation of Article 1 of the 1987 Constitution, embodying the terms of the Treaty of Paris and ancillary treaties, and
(2) RA 9522 opens the country’s waters landward of the
baselines to maritime passage 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 Q: whether or not RA 9522 is unconstitutional