ConCom amends definition of PHL territory in light of Hague ruling, Sabah, Benham Rise

By Charmaine A. Tadalan
A SUBCOMMITTEE of the Consultative Committee (ConCom) has proposed to revise the Article on National Territory of the 1987 constitution, giving the 2016 Hague ruling on the Philippines’ maritime dispute with China a “constitutional status.”
“The prime considerations of the proposed revision is that the new article on national territory should be in conformity with the (United Nations) Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the arbitral (tribunal) decision in favor of the Philippines and also our claims over Benham Rise,” Ranhilio C. Aquino, who sponsored the article, said in a press briefing on Thursday.
Under the proposed Article on National Territory, the Philippines’ sovereignty would consist of “the islands and waters encompassed by its archipelagic baselines, its territorial sea and its airspace,” in accordance to the “laws of the federal republic, the law of nations, and judgments of competent international courts or tribunals.”
It also included territories that belong to the country by “historic right or legal title,” which was a provision of the 1973 constitution, but excised from the present constitution.
Fr. Aquino said this particular provision will allow the Philippines to “actively pursue” its long-standing claims over Sabah, currently deemed a state by Malaysia that forms part of its federation.
Sabah was leased by the Sultanate of Sulu to the British North Borneo Company in an 1878 agreement. In 1946, the British, Malaysia’s former rulers, annexed Sabah as a crown colony days after the Philippines’ independence on July 4, according to a Dec. 30, 1961 article by the journalist Napoleon G. Rama that prompted the Philippines to pursue its claim over Sabah on the watch of then president Diosdado P. Macapagal.
Section 2 of the proposed article, meanwhile, recognized the country’s rights over “maritime expanse beyond its territorial sea to the extent reserved to it by international law.” This covers its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), which is within 200 nautical miles from the archipelagic baselines and aqua-maritime resources.
In drafting the proposed definition of the territory, Mr. Aquino noted Section 2 incorporated the significant factual and legal conclusions of the arbitral award in favor of the Philippines in the case on the South China Sea.
The section also asserted rights over the Philippine Rise, the country’s extended continental shelf, also called Benham Rise.
He added: “We are expanding in the sense that we are consolidating our claims and not foreclosing the Philippines from pursuing its claims to which it may be legally entitled both by domestic vote and by international law.”
The subcommittee, chaired by Antonio B. Arellano, is set to discuss the provisions with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) before their submission to the ConCom en banc for approval.
The revision, aside from adding a new section, also changed the title of Article 1 from “National Territory,” in the present Constitution to “Sovereignty Over Territory and Sovereign Rights.”