09 July 2021

MEMORANDUM

FOR : The Undersecretary for Finance Information Systems and

Climate Change

FROM : The Director

Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau

SUBJECT : REQUEST FOR COMMENTS/CONCURRENCE ON THE

DRAFT BILL RE: PROPOSED PHILIPPINES NEW
BASELINES LAW

The Bureau submits our position paper on the proposed law stated in the above
subject.

Designation of New Baselines

The Philippines has been a pioneer in pushing for and in achieving an
archipelagic state status, which has been slowly but finally recognized and accepted not
only by the traditional opponent-maritime power states but also by the participating
states in UNCLOS III (Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea). It has
been settled that this sui generis legal regime is not to extend the archipelagic state’s
maritime jurisdiction but to protect and preserve its territorial integrity. The proposed
new baselines law, if enacted into law, can be seen as an avenue to translate the
Philippine’s victory against illegal claimants in the South China Sea (SCS) Arbitration
into actual exercise of exclusive sovereign rights over fishing and resource exploitation
in its recognized Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and Continental Shelf (CS) and the
traditional fishing rights in the Territorial Sea (TS) of Bajo de Masinloc. This
notwithstanding, the Bureau would like to forward the following inputs to the proposed
law:

I. Environmental Concerns

A. Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas

As part of the Department mandated to protect and conserve the environment
and natural resources, ERDB would like to entreat the proposed law sponsors
to mark certain areas with rich and unique marine biodiversity to be applied
and granted the status of a particularly sensitive sea area (PSSA) 1 by the
International Maritime Organization. For priority consideration is a) the
Tubbataha Reef, which has a very high density of marine species. It is
considered a world heritage site2 and declared a national marine park by
virtue of Presidential Proclamation No. 306, s. 1988, and eventually by R.A.
No. 10067; and b) Verde Island Passage Marine Corridor, which is
considered as the world’s center of marine shorefish biodiversity 3 and
1
A Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA) is an area that needs special protection through action by IMO because
of its significance for recognized ecological or socio-economic or scientific reasons and which may be vulnerable to
damage by international maritime activities. Retrieved August 27, 2020, from
http://www.imo.org/en/OurWork/Environment/PSSAs/Pages/Default.aspx
2
World Heritage Centre of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Retrieved August
27, 2020, from https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/653/
3
Biodiversity Management Bureau (n.d.). The Verde Island Passage Marine Corridor. Retrieved August 27, 2020,
from http://pusod.org/pusod/wp-content/themes/pusod/img/vip/The Verde Island Passage Marine Corridor.pdf
 declared part of the Integrated Conservation and Development Zone by virtue
of Presidential Proclamation No. 1028, s. 1997. This entreaty is to prevent
similar incident of environmental damage caused to the Tubbataha Reef by a
U.S. warship in 2013 and which gave rise to the case of Arigo v. Swift. 4 The
new baselines shall undergone additional protective measures and shall
undertake further research studies with regards to its marine biodiversity.

B. Prevention of Marine Pollution and Nuclear Weapons

The inclusion of the above subject in the proposed law is vital for the
protection of the environment and national interest. We believe that such
provision reflects the state principles of the right to a balanced and healthful
ecology and freedom from nuclear weapons in Philippine territory.

II. Other Concerns

The demarcation of the baselines enables the Philippines to delimit its
exclusive economic zone, reserving solely to the Philippines the exploitation
of all living and non-living resources within such zone. However, it is also
remarkable to consider the determination of whether a geologic feature is
high tide or low tide, since it is a matter of time and it may change because of
sea level rise. Thus, it is not practical to put the status of geologic features in
a law.

With the new baselines law, the Philippines has delimited with precision the
extent of their maritime zones and continental shelves. In turn, this gives notice to the
rest of the international community of the scope of the maritime space and submarine
areas within which States parties exercise treaty-based rights, namely, the exercise of
sovereignty over territorial waters, the jurisdiction to enforce customs, fiscal,
immigration, and sanitation laws in the contiguous zone, and the right to exploit the
living and non-living resources in the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf. 5
In summary, ERDB supports the proposed law with a request of consideration of
the inputs as we have provided here.

For your consideration.

HENRY A. ADORNADO, Ph.D.

4
G.R. No. 206510, 16 September 2014.
5
G.R. No. 187167, 16 August 2011.

College, 4031, Laguna, Philippines

Tel Nos: (6349)5363628; 5362229; 5362269 Fax No. (6349)5362850
E-mail: erdb@denr.gov.ph/erdbco@yahoo.com