REDEFINE RP BASELINES TO PROTECT RIGHTS OVER SPRATLYS ISLAND - ANGARA

Senator Edgardo J. Angara today filed a bill to redefine the archipelagic baselines of the country in order to preserve the country's historic right over the strategic and resources-rich Kalayaan Group of Islands.

Angara said that his bill, the proposed Archipelagic Baseline Law of the Philippines, has to be acted upon with urgency because either of two frightening scenarios will take place if the Philippines failed to claim the extended continental shelf (ECS) of which Kalayaan is a part, before the expiry of the United Nations Convention on the Law and the Sea (UNCLOS) in May 2009.

Angara warned that should the Philippines fail to meet the UN deadline, the extended continental shelf (ECS) areas which the country is claiming can either be:

1. Considered as part of the International Seabed Area, or the so called "Common Heritage of Mankind"
2. Or, be awarded to a neighbor state which filed and was able to prove its claim over the area

Under the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS), archipelagic nations such as the Philippines must have a law defining its baselines and provide supporting scientific data within a period of ten years from May 13, 1999.

UNCLOS - which will expire on May 2009 - had also established the 12-mile nautical territorial sea, the 24-mile contiguous zone and the 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) as the limits of the archipelagic jurisdiction.

Under the 1987 Constitution, "national territory comprises the Philippine archipelago, with all the islands and waters embraced therein, and all other territories over which the Philippines has sovereignty or jurisdiction consisting of its terrestrial, fluvial and aerial domains, including its territorial sea, the seabed, the subsoil, the insular shelves, and other submarine areas. The waters around, between, and connecting the islands of the archipelago, regardless of their breadth and dimensions, form part of the internal waters of the Philippines."

Angara also added, "Losing our extended continental shelf claim will have disastrous effects as the same contains mineral resources such as nickel and gold as well as living organisms belonging to the sedentary species which are primarily raw materials for pharmaceutical products."

The Reed Alone which is potential ECS for the Philippines is said to contain the following energy resources: 3.9 Cubic feet of gas, 35 million barrels of oil and 21 billion barrels of condensate. In addition, the Department of Energy puts the value of those resources at $19.9 million, $2.1 billion and $1.2 billion respectively.

Republic Act 3046, otherwise known as "An Act Defining Baselines of the Territorial Sea of the Philippines as amended by RA 5446, defines the baselines of the Philippine territory; but failed to include the Kalayaan Group of Islands.