DFA submits manifestation for PH exclusive right on West Palawan Region

Department of Foreign Affairs building in Manila. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines submitted its information to the United Nations Commission on Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) for an extended continental shelf (ECS) in the West Palawan Region of the West Philippine Sea, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Saturday.

According to the DFA, the National Mapping and Resource Information Agency (NAMRIA) worked on the proposal for 15 years and that this submission will allow Filipinos to protect its natural resources.

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“The seabed and the subsoil extending from our archipelago up the maximum extent allowed by UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) hold significant potential resources that will benefit our nation and our people for generations to come,” DFA Assistant Secretary Louis Alferez said in a statement.

“Today we secure our future by making a manifestation of our exclusive right to explore and exploit natural resources in our ECS entitlement,” he added.

According to the UNCLOS, a continental shelf is the seabed and the subsoil that extends beyond the territorial sea of a coastal state.

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The DFA added that this was the second time that it made a submission on the ECS, the first being a partial submission on the Philippine Rise in 2009, which the CLCS validated on 2012.

The submission was made by the Extended Continental Shelf Technical Working Group, composed of government agencies such as the NAMRIA, DFA, Department of Justice, Department of Energy, National Security Council, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of National Defense, Office of the Solicitor General, Philippine Coast Guard, among others.