House approves PHL Maritime Zones bill

From the Business Mirror (Dec 19): House approves PHL Maritime Zones bill

THE House of Representatives recently approved on third and final reading a measure defining the country’s territorial waters.

 

House Bill (HB) 4889, or the “Philippine Maritime Zones Act,” seeks to provide for the necessary flexibility in the enactment of subsequent laws pertinent to the rights and obligations to which the Philippines is entitled and may exercise over its maritime zones in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos).

HB 4889 also provides for the sovereign rights or jurisdiction over these maritime zones, acquiring for the country the exclusive rights to explore and exploit living and non-living, organic or non-organic resources found in these zones, in accordance with Unclos and other existing laws and treaties.

The bill states “the maritime zones of the country shall be comprised of the internal waters, archipelagic waters, territorial sea, contiguous zone, exclusive economic zone [EEZ] and continental shelf.  All territories of the Philippines shall generate their respective maritime zones in accordance with international law.”

Archipelagic baselines, as used in the bill, shall refer to the baselines as defined under Republic Act (RA) 9522, titled “An Act to Amend Certain Provisions of RA 3046, as Amended by RA 5446, to Define the Archipelagic Baselines of the Philippines and for Other Purposes.”

Archipelagic waters shall refer to the waters on the landward side of the archipelagic baselines, except as provided for under the provisions defining the internal waters of the country.

Territorial sea shall refer “to the belt of sea measured 12 nautical miles from the baselines or from the low-water line, as the case may be.”

The Contiguous Zone shall refer to the “waters beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea and up to the extent of 24 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured.” On the other hand, EEZ of the country shall refer to “the waters beyond and adjacent to its territorial sea and up to the extent of 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured.”

Likewise, the bill states that the Continental Shelf of the Philippines shall be “comprised of the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas that extend beyond its territorial sea throughout the natural prolongation of its land territory to the outer edge of the continental margin, or to a distance of 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured, where the outer edge of the continental margin does not extend up to that distance.”

The authors stressed that the Philippines shall exercise sovereign rights over the mentioned areas, including the right to explore and exploit its resources according to the Unclos and existing laws and treaties.

Furthermore, the bill provides that other rights not stipulated in this Act shall be exercised by the country in accordance with internal law and the law of the country.

If the maritime zones of the Philippines overlap with the maritime zones claimed by other countries, the Philippines shall delimit these zones and endeavor to resolve the overlaps according to the recognized means under international law,” the authors underscored.

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/house-approves-phl-maritime-zones-bill/