THE bicameral conference committee approved on Wednesday the final version of the maritime zones bill, taking it closer to being sent to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for approval.
“The Maritime Zones Law is long overdue. We urgently need a law delineating our maritime domains to assert the extent of our sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction under Unclos (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea),” said Negros Occidental 3rd District Rep. Jose Francisco “Kiko” Benitez, one of the authors of the bill.
Retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and Philippine Coast Guard Commodore Jay Tarriela, spokesman on the West Philippine Sea, answer media questions on the arbitral ruling, eight years after, at the weekly ‘Kapihan sa Manila Bay,’ on July 17, 2024. PHOTO BY MIKE ALQUINTO
Retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and Philippine Coast Guard Commodore Jay Tarriela, spokesman on the West Philippine Sea, answer media questions on the arbitral ruling, eight years after, at the weekly ‘Kapihan sa Manila Bay,’ on July 17, 2024. PHOTO BY MIKE ALQUINTO
Retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and Philippine Coast Guard Commodore Jay Tarriela, spokesman on the West Philippine Sea, answer media questions on the arbitral ruling, eight years after, at the weekly ‘Kapihan sa Manila Bay,’ on July 17, 2024. PHOTO BY MIKE ALQUINTO
Retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and Philippine Coast Guard Commodore Jay Tarriela, spokesman on the West Philippine Sea, answer media questions on the arbitral ruling, eight years after, at the weekly ‘Kapihan sa Manila Bay,’ on July 17, 2024. PHOTO BY MIKE ALQUINTO
Retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and Philippine Coast Guard Commodore Jay Tarriela, spokesman on the West Philippine Sea, answer media questions on the arbitral ruling, eight years after, at the weekly ‘Kapihan sa Manila Bay,’ on July 17, 2024. PHOTO BY MIKE ALQUINTO
Retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and Philippine Coast Guard Commodore Jay Tarriela, spokesman on the West Philippine Sea, answer media questions on the arbitral ruling, eight years after, at the weekly ‘Kapihan sa Manila Bay,’ on July 17, 2024. PHOTO BY MIKE ALQUINTO
Retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and Philippine Coast Guard Commodore Jay Tarriela, spokesman on the West Philippine Sea, answer media questions on the arbitral ruling, eight years after, at the weekly ‘Kapihan sa Manila Bay,’ on July 17, 2024. PHOTO BY MIKE ALQUINTO
Retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and Philippine Coast Guard Commodore Jay Tarriela, spokesman on the West Philippine Sea, answer media questions on the arbitral ruling, eight years after, at the weekly ‘Kapihan sa Manila Bay,’ on July 17, 2024. PHOTO BY MIKE ALQUINTO
Retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and Philippine Coast Guard Commodore Jay Tarriela, spokesman on the West Philippine Sea, answer media questions on the arbitral ruling, eight years after, at the weekly ‘Kapihan sa Manila Bay,’ on July 17, 2024. PHOTO BY MIKE ALQUINTO
Retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and Philippine Coast Guard Commodore Jay Tarriela, spokesman on the West Philippine Sea, answer media questions on the arbitral ruling, eight years after, at the weekly ‘Kapihan sa Manila Bay,’ on July 17, 2024. PHOTO BY MIKE ALQUINTO
Retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and Philippine Coast Guard Commodore Jay Tarriela, spokesman on the West Philippine Sea, answer media questions on the arbitral ruling, eight years after, at the weekly ‘Kapihan sa Manila Bay,’ on July 17, 2024. PHOTO BY MIKE ALQUINTO
Retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and Philippine Coast Guard Commodore Jay Tarriela, spokesman on the West Philippine Sea, answer media questions on the arbitral ruling, eight years after, at the weekly ‘Kapihan sa Manila Bay,’ on July 17, 2024. PHOTO BY MIKE ALQUINTO
Retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and Philippine Coast Guard Commodore Jay Tarriela, spokesman on the West Philippine Sea, answer media questions on the arbitral ruling, eight years after, at the weekly ‘Kapihan sa Manila Bay,’ on July 17, 2024. PHOTO BY MIKE ALQUINTO
In this file photo a Filipino fisherman returns after fishing at Masinloc bay to Masinloc town, Zambales province. AFP file photo
“The joint meeting of the bill’s authors and champions from the House and Senate today also clarified the extent of our internal waters and archipelagic waters, aligning its definitions with our Constitution and Unclos, to protect our internal waters from unlawful entry of foreign vessels,” Benitez said.
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Advocates from Atin Ito and Akbayan, stage a protest in front of the Boy Scouts’ Circle in Quezon City on July 12, 2024 to mark ‘West Philippine Sea Day.’ The event commemorates the eight anniversary of the Philippines’ victory over China when the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague, Netherlands, dismissed Beijing’s expansive claim over the South China Sea, including territories that are within Manila’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and recognized the country’s sovereign rights to use marine resources as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos). PHOTO BY ISMAEL DE JUAN
Advocates from Atin Ito and Akbayan, stage a protest in front of the Boy Scouts’ Circle in Quezon City on July 12, 2024 to mark ‘West Philippine Sea Day.’ The event commemorates the eight anniversary of the Philippines’ victory over China when the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague, Netherlands, dismissed Beijing’s expansive claim over the South China Sea, including territories that are within Manila’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and recognized the country’s sovereign rights to use marine resources as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos). PHOTO BY ISMAEL DE JUAN
Advocates from Atin Ito and Akbayan, stage a protest in front of the Boy Scouts’ Circle in Quezon City on July 12, 2024 to mark ‘West Philippine Sea Day.’ The event commemorates the eight anniversary of the Philippines’ victory over China when the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague, Netherlands, dismissed Beijing’s expansive claim over the South China Sea, including territories that are within Manila’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and recognized the country’s sovereign rights to use marine resources as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos). PHOTO BY ISMAEL DE JUAN
Advocates from Atin Ito and Akbayan, stage a protest in front of the Boy Scouts’ Circle in Quezon City on July 12, 2024 to mark ‘West Philippine Sea Day.’ The event commemorates the eight anniversary of the Philippines’ victory over China when the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague, Netherlands, dismissed Beijing’s expansive claim over the South China Sea, including territories that are within Manila’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and recognized the country’s sovereign rights to use marine resources as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos). PHOTO BY ISMAEL DE JUAN
Advocates from Atin Ito and Akbayan, stage a protest in front of the Boy Scouts’ Circle in Quezon City on July 12, 2024 to mark ‘West Philippine Sea Day.’ The event commemorates the eight anniversary of the Philippines’ victory over China when the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague, Netherlands, dismissed Beijing’s expansive claim over the South China Sea, including territories that are within Manila’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and recognized the country’s sovereign rights to use marine resources as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos). PHOTO BY ISMAEL DE JUAN
“The passage of this law will strengthen our assertion of maritime entitlements over the West Philippine Sea, which is part of our exclusive economic zone, and Philippine Rise [which] is part of our extended continental shelf,” he added.
Also, he said that such maritime zones and other marine areas “will be covered by future submissions to the United Nations on the limits of our continental shelf, including our claim for the region of West Palawan as part of our extended continental shelf, which has been submitted to the UN just this June.”
“This provides the foundation for two important maritime governance bills passed by the House and pending in the Senate: the designation of archipelagic sea lanes and the Blue Economy Bill, which mandates maritime spatial planning,” he added.
The maritime zones bill, the archipelagic sea lanes bill, and the blue economy bill are among the priority measures of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council.
“We look forward to the signing of the President of this Maritime Zones bill, which he committed to during his keynote speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore last May,” Benitez said.
Asked for comment, Cagayan de Oro City 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, also an author of the measure’s House version, said, “I support the refined and stronger final version.”
“After ratification by both Houses [of Congress], I urge the President to immediately sign the same,” Rodriguez said.
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