The House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs on Monday approved an unnumbered substitute bill declaring the maritime zones under the jurisdiction of the Republic of the Philippines.
The panel, chaired by Pangasinan Rep. Ma. Rachel Arenas, consolidated House Bills 2467, 3895, and 6109 or the proposed “Philippine Maritime Zones Act” which aims harmonize Philippine legislations with international laws, such as the 1982 United National Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
A similar measure was already approved on third and final reading during the 18th Congress, but the Senate failed to act on it.
The bill seeks to clarify the nature and status of the waters connecting the various islands of the Philippines and its adjacent seas.
According to one of the bill’s authors, the Philippines, as a signatory and party to the 1983 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), “recognizes the establishment of various maritime zones and jurisdiction of coastal states, including its own, over which sovereignty and appurtenant sovereign rights can be exercised.”
Rodriguez, chair of the House constitutional amendments committee, pointed out that UNCLOS allow party-states to define their maritime territory. “Thus, the country exercises sovereignty over its internal waters, archipelagic waters, territorial sea and airspace over it, as well as its seabed and subsoil in accordance with UNCLOS and other existing laws and treaties,” he said.
He said the Philippines also exercises sovereign rights over its “contiguous zone, exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, including the right to explore and exploit living and nonliving, organic or nonorganic resources.”
Meanwhile, the committee adopted House Resolution 691, urging the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to establish a consular office in the Second Legislative District of the Province of Zambales.
It would also serve as a substitute measure to HBs 6494 and 6554, establishing a DFA consular office in the municipality of Ipil, in Zamboanga Sibugay, as well as in the town of Liloy, in Zamboanga del Norte.