Press Release
March 30, 2008

CONGRESS URGED TO FAST TRACK APPROVAL OF BILL ON ARCHIPELAGIC BASELINES

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Nene" Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today said the enactment of a law that will delineate Philippines' archipelagic baselines and assert its claim to the Kalayaan Islands (Spratly islands in the international map) and Scarborough Shoal should not offend China and other countries with ownership claims over these territories.

Pimentel said the enactment of this crucial legislation is long-overdue and is in compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) which the Philippines ratified 14 years ago.

"By doing so, we are not trying to antagonize China or any of the other claimant-states. That is not our purpose. Our purpose is to say that, from our point of view, this is our claim subject to the decision of the United Nations body that is in charge of implementing the UNCLOS," he said.

Pimentel filed Senate Bill 2144 which defines the country's new archipelagic baselines and affirms its sovereign right to Kalayaan Islands that fall within its extended continental shelf (ECS).

The bill declares that "the Philippines is an archipelagic State and its 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 territorial, fluvial and aerial domains, including its territorial sea, the seabed, the subsoil, insular shelves and other submarine areas."

Pimentel said the bill was lifted bodily from House Bill 3216, with the permission of its author, Cebu Rep. Antonio Cuenco, chairman of the committee on foreign relations of the House of Representatives.

"The reason I did that is to ensure that once this bill is approved by the Senate, there will be no need for a bicameral conference committee that can delay the definition of our baselines and the submission of the same to the UN on or before the May 13, 2009 deadline," he explained.

He said Congress should act on the bill with utmost urgency, citing the fact, as pointed out by Congressman Cuenco, that this is the third extension of the deadline for the Philippines to define its archipelagic baselines.

Pimentel said it is to be expected that the enactment of such law that seeks to firm up the country's territorial claim to the Kalayaan Islands and the Scarborough Shoal will be looked upon with disfavor by the other claimant-countries.

"But if we erred in drawing up our archipelagic baselines, then the UN agency concerned will say we are wrong. You have exceeded your claim and this is how far you can go. And we will abide by that," the minority leader said.

"What's wrong with that? We are precisely trying to do this so that nobody can say we are not asserting our right to Kalayaan Islands and Scarborough Shoal."

Pimentel said the country's claim to the Kalayaan Islands has legal and historic basis, pointing out that the island group has been officially declared part of the Philippine territory and the 23rd municipality of Palawan since 1978.

Moreover, he said contingents of troops from the Armed Forces of the Philippines have been stationed in the Kalayaan, including Pag-asa, the biggest of the island group - a proof that they are under actual occupation by the Philippines.

Pimentel said that while Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, chairman of the foreign relations committee, is on leave, the vice chairman of the committee should be authorized to take over its functions and to steer the deliberations on the proposal. Santiago has been traveling to many countries to campaign for her candidacy as member of the International Court of Justice.

Pimentel said that he welcomes the decision of the House foreign relations committee to go ahead with the approval of House Bill 3216 on third and final reading upon the resumption of the session of Congress on April 21. The committee rejected a Malacañang request to have the bill recommitted to it supposedly to accommodate some amendments suggested by the Commission on Oceanic and Maritime Affairs under the Office of the President.

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