West Philippine Sea: What’s In A Name?

Thursday, 16 June 2011 00:00

Written by Rommel Banlaoi

In an effort to assert its sovereignty over some body of waters in the South China Sea, the Philippine government has started to use “West Philippine Sea” to describe a maritime area that is deemed to be an integral part of Philippine maritime territory.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda announced, “All the other nations call the South China Sea based on how they perceive it. Vietnam calls it East Sea so it is but natural for us to call it West Philippine Sea.”

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is the main government agency championing the use of West Philippine Sea in its official communication. The Department of National Defense (DND) has, in fact, been practically using this term for many years already through the Palawan-based Western Command (Wescom) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in charge of protecting the Kalayaan Group of Islands (KIG). In weather reporting, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has instructed the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) to officially use West Philippine Sea in the monitoring, forecasting and warning of tropical situation in the area.

What’s the coverage of West Philippine Sea? What’s in it for the Philippines in using West Philippine Sea? What’s in a name?

The whole of South China Sea covers around 3.56 million square kilometers of waters consisting of more than 250 disputed land features in the form of islands, islets, reefs, shoals, atolls and rock formations. While China claims the whole South China Sea area (with Taiwan having identical claims), other claimants such as Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippine and Vietnam only claim part of it. The part being claimed by the Philippines is only the KIG that belongs to what the Philippine government calls as West Philippine Sea.

Existing Philippine laws, however, remain unclear on the maritime area covered by the so-called West Philippine Sea.

The 1987 Philippine Constitution provides a general statement on the extent of Philippine territories. But the specific coverage of Philippine territories has not been clearly defined by existing laws.

Republic Act 9522, otherwise known as the Philippine Archipelagic Baselines Law, which entered into force in March 2009, specifies the extent of Philippine baselines to make it compliant to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The enactment of RA 9522 s considered essential for the Philippines to establish its maritime boundaries vis a vis neighboring coastal states. From these baselines, the Philippines can draw its maritime zones under UNCLOS such as the archipelagic or internal water of 572,307 square kilometers, 12 nautical miles (NM) of territorial sea locally known as municipal waters, 24 NM of contiguous zones, 200 NM of Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), and 200 NM of juridical continental shelf.

RA 9522 is, however, very controversial, highly contested and even viewed by others as awfully unconstitutional for having deliberately excluded the KIG in the archipelagic baseline. RA 9522 regards the KIG as part of the “regime of islands” of the Philippines, which requires a separate legal treatment. Moreover, RA 9522 has not yet fully defined Philippine maritime zones including the coverage of West Philippine Sea, which China regards as part of its “internal waters”.

Which part of the Philippine maritime zone is the West Philippine Sea? Is it part Philippine territorial sea, contiguous zone, or EEZ?

If the KIG is a “regime of islands” that is entitled to have its maritime zones, will the West Philippine Sea cover the maritime zones of KIG?

To define the extent of Philippine maritime zone, there are pending bills in the Philippine Senate and the House of Representatives called the “The Philippine Maritime Zone” bills. There are two versions in the Senate: the Senate Bill 2737 and the Senate Bill 2723. There is only one version in the House called HB 4185. All these bills aim to specify the extent of Philippine internal waters, territorial sea, contiguous zone, EEZ and continental shelf in accordance with UNCLOS.

All these versions, however, have no specific provision on the extent of West Philippine Sea. Moreover, all maritime zone bills in the Philippine Congress are still being deliberated and have not been passed into laws that can provide juridical meaning to West Philippine Sea.

The use of the term West Philippine Sea, in short, still has no basis under Philippine laws. It is also yet to receive international recognition. Even Deputy Presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte candidly admits that the Office of the President (OP) has not issued any official directive, to date, on the use of West Philippine Sea.

While the use of West Philippine Sea expresses the sovereign prerogative of the Philippines to describe its maritime territory and symbolizes the strategic intention of the Philippines to bolster its ownership of the KIG and its surrounding waters, it is still utterly devoid of legal meaning.

Unless we pass a Philippine maritime zone law that can describe the extent of West Philippine Sea pursuant to UNCLOS and applicable international laws, the term West Philippine Sea will remain an empty label that cannot withstand the harsh reality of international politics.

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites