ARTICLE I
NATIONAL
TERRITORY
The national territory comprises the Philippine archipelago, with all the islands and waters embraced therein, and all other territories over which the Philippines has sovereignty or jurisdiction, consisting of its terrestrial, fluvial and aerial domains, including its territorial sea, the seabed, the subsoil, the insular shelves, and other submarine areas. The waters around, between, and connecting the islands of the archipelago, regardless of their breadth and dimensions, form part of the internal waters of the Philippines.
Philippine
Archipelago:
1. Treaty of Paris, December 10 1898
– cessation of the Philippine Islands by Spain to the United States
2. Treaty of Washington November 7
1900 – clarifying territories to the US by Spain, particularly the islands of
Cagayan Sulu and Sibutu.
3. Convention between US and Great
Britain 1930– delimiting the boundary
between North Borneo and Philippine Archipelago
What
comprises the National Territory?
1. The Philippine Archipelago with
all the islands embraced therein
2. All other territories over which
the Philippines has sovereignty or jurisdiction
1. The Philippine Archipelago with all the islands embraced
therein
Archipelago - under the UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the
Law of the Sea), it is a group of islands, interconnecting waters and other
natural features which are so closely inter-related that such islands, waters
and natural features from an intrinsic geographical, economic and political
entity, or which historically regarded as such.
2 Elements of Archipelagic
Principle
1.Definition of internal waters
2. Straight baseline method of delineating the territorial sea
o Straight Baseline Method - allows a country with offshore islands and/or very jagged coastlines to calculate its territorial seas from straight lines drawn from a point on the coast to the islands, or from island to island. One then “connects the dots” literally, and the water behind the lines is designated internal waters, while waters away from the line and toward open waters are considered territorial seas
o Straight Baseline Method - allows a country with offshore islands and/or very jagged coastlines to calculate its territorial seas from straight lines drawn from a point on the coast to the islands, or from island to island. One then “connects the dots” literally, and the water behind the lines is designated internal waters, while waters away from the line and toward open waters are considered territorial seas
2. All other territories over which
the Philippines has sovereignty or jurisdiction
• Includes any territory that presently
belongs or might in the future belong to the Philippines through any of the
accepted international modes of acquiring territory.
• Batanes
(1935 Constitution)
• Other
territories belonging to the Philippines by historic or legal title (1973
Constitution)
o
Claim to Sabah
o
Spratly Islands (PD 1596 of June 11 1968)
Components of National Territory:
I.
Terrestrial – refers to the land mass, which may be integrate or dismembered, or
partly bound by water or consists of one whole island. It includes all the
resources attached to the land.
II.
Fluvial
a. Internal
waters - the waters
around, between and connecting the islands of the archipelago, regardless of
their breadth and dimensions.
b. Archipelagic
waters – waters
enclosed by the archipelagic baselines, regardless of their depth or distance
from the coast.
Archipelagic State – state made up of
one or two archipelagos
Straight Archipelagic Baseline –
c. Territorial
sea - belt of the sea
located between the coast and internal waters of the coastal state on the one
hand, and the high seas on the other, extending
up to 12 nautical miles from the low water mark
d. Contiguous
zone - Extends up to 12 nautical miles from the
territorial sea. Although not part of the territory, the coastal State may
exercise jurisdiction to prevent infringement of customs, fiscal, immigration
or sanitary laws.
Principle of Innocent Passage –
guarantees that all vessels, whatever flag that they are flying, can freely
cross all territorial seas.
e. Exclusive
economic zone - Body of water extending up to 200 nautical miles, within which the state may
exercise sovereign rights to explore, exploit, conserve and manage the natural
resources.
f. Continental
shelf – the seabed and
subsoil of the submarine areas extending
beyond the Philippine territorial sea.
g. High
seas – res communes; not territory of any
particular State. They are beyond the jurisdiction and sovereign rights of the
State.
III. Aerial – Rules governing the high seas also
apply to outer space, which is considered as res communes.
Kármán Line – lies
an altitude of 100 km (62 mi) above the Earth's sea level and is commonly define the boundary between
the Earth's atmosphere and outer space.
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