‘Landmark’ Maritime Zones Bill approved in bicam

Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino —Senate PRIB

MANILA, Philippines — The congressional bicameral conference committee on Wednesday approved the proposed Maritime Zones Bill, which specifies the rights and entitlements of Filipinos over the country’s maritime zones.

“It’s okay now and it’s now for the President’s signature,” Sen. Francis Tolentino, the principal sponsor of the measure in the Senate, said of conflicting provisions in Senate Bill No. 2492 and House Bill No. 7819.

“We have included Palawan, we have included the Philippine Rise. Then we reconciled the provisions on internal waters and the archipelagic waters, which is legal and technical,” Tolentino added.

The House of Representatives passed its version last year while the Senate passed its own in February, but the House recalled the bill in May for further refinement.

Tolentino earlier described the proposed measure as a landmark legislation that establishes the Philippine maritime zones, in compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) and the 2016 arbitral ruling, which upheld the Philippines’ sovereign right to fish and explore resources within its exclusive economic zones.

The committee unanimously passed the reconciled version of the measure, which Tolentino said would serve as “the cornerstone” of Philippine maritime policy.

Boundaries clarified

“Our [maritime] boundaries will be clarified. We will have a clear law on where Filipinos can freely sail and fish,” he said, adding that untapped energy resources in the area were also included.

Maritime law expert Dr. Jay Batongbacal, director of the University of the Philippines-Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea who was also involved in the country’s border agreement with Indonesia in 2014, said the enrolled maritime zones bill, once signed by the President, would be a foundational law.

“This is a foundational law. It sets out in very clear terms the Philippines’ adherence to Unclos and its implementation of our rights and obligations under Unclos. So that in itself is very important,” he said.

“It also is a way for the Philippines to implement the South China Sea arbitration award which clearly established our entitlements in the maritime zones under Unclos. With that act, we are also now laying the groundwork for improving our law enforcement within these maritime zones,” he added.

The measure also ensures compliance with Philippine laws and enables enforcement “even against foreign vessels in accordance with international law,” said Batongbacal.

“This act will now set the stage for that,” he said. “With the maritime zone act then, the parameters for the Philippines coming to any agreement with China or any other nation will have been already clarified.”

“They cannot, for example, go beyond the parameters set forth by our laws. At least on our side, it’s very clear that any agreement we enter into in the future will be in accordance with national law as well as international law,” he added.