BY SHAY CULLEN
THE INTEGRATED Bar of the Philippines (IBP), the official organization of Philippine lawyers, is one with the Filipino people and the Philippine government in asserting our country’s sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea.
The Treaty of Paris of 1898, which concluded the Spanish-American War, clearly delineated the territorial boundaries of the Philippine archipelago. According to Article III of the Treaty of Paris, Spain ceded to the United States all rights of sovereignty over the Philippines, including the waters surrounding the islands.
Further reinforcing this, the Spanish-US Treaty of Washington in 1900 supplemented the Treaty of Paris by clarifying and affirming the cession of additional islands to the United States, as part of Philippine territory. This Treaty of Washington documented Spain’s cession to US of any and all islands of the Philippine Archipelago lying outside of the lines described in Article III of the Treaty of Paris of December 10, 1898.
When the Philippines gained independence, all these islands covered by the Treaty of Paris and Treaty of Washington that form part of the Philippine archipelago became part of our country’s territory.
In 1982, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS) to which both the Philippines and China are signatories, granted coastal states sovereign rights over their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ), extending up to 200 nautical miles from their baselines. In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration issued a decision confirming that the Philippines has sovereign rights over its 200 miles Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the West Philippine Sea. This decision clarified that the Philippines shall enjoy all economic rights within its EEZ, including fishing, resource exploration, and marine conservation.
Therefore, the West Philippine Sea is inside the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) to the extent of 200 miles measured from our country’s archipelagic baselines.
The Scarborough Shoal (Bajo de Masinloc) is just about 120 miles from Zambales. This is a traditional fishing ground of Filipino fishermen. The Ayungin Shoal (2nd Thomas Shoal) is just about 196 miles to Palawan. Ayungin Shoal is where the Philippine Ship BRP Sierra Madre is located. In this regard, the 1987 Philippine Constitution mandates the protection of the rights of subsistence fishermen, especially those from local communities, to preferential use of communal marine and fishing resources, both inland and offshore. According to Article XIII, Section 7 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, “The State shall protect the rights of subsistence fishermen, especially of local communities, to the preferential use of the communal marine and fishing resources, both inland and offshore. It shall provide support to such fishermen through appropriate technology and research, adequate financial, production, and marketing assistance, and other services. The State shall also protect, develop, and conserve such resources. The protection shall extend to offshore fishing grounds of subsistence fishermen against foreign intrusion. Fishworkers shall receive a just share from their labor in the utilization of marine and fishing resources.”
Clearly, therefore, Filipino fishermen have the legal right to go fishing within the 200 miles Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone; while the Philippine government is duty-bound to provide protection to our fishermen inside this zone.
The Integrated Bar of the Philippines stands with the Filipino fishermen who are only exercising their right to a livelihood inside our own Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The Integrated Bar of the Philippines also supports the legitimate stand of the Philippine government in asserting our country’s lawful and sovereign rights over the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the West Philippine Sea./PN
