Republic of the Philippines 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Quezon City 
18th CONGRESS 
Second Regular Session 
House Bill No. ______ 
Introduced by Representative ANN K. HOFER 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
On July 12, 2021, the country marked the 5th year of the victory of the Republic of the 
Philippines against the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the South China Sea (SCS) 
Arbitration. The Arbitral Award declared that PRC's Nine-Dash Line claim violates the United 
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). It declared that the Philippines has an 
Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and Continental Shelf (CS) in the areas of Panganiban 
(Mischief) Reef, Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal and Recto (Reed) Bank, and that Filipino 
fishermen have traditional fishing rights, in common with Chinese and Vietnamese fishermen, 
in the Territorial Sea (TS) of Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal). 
The Philippines has not fully maximized and translated its victory into actual exercise 
of exclusive sovereign rights over fishing and resource exploitation in its recognized EEZ and 
CS and traditional fishing rights in the TS of Bajo de Masinloc. This proposed new baselines 
law seeks to give a more meaningful exercise and enjoyment of the gains of the Arbitral Award. 
First, the proposed legislative measure identifies by name and coordinates some 100 
plus features being claimed and occupied by the Philippines. This is an exercise of acts of 
sovereignty pertaining to each and every feature, consistent with the requirements of 
international law on the establishment and maintenance of territorial title.  
Second, it adopts normal baselines around each feature that qualifies as a high-tide 
elevation. This is to delineate the TS of each of said feature.  
Third, it reiterates continuing Philippine sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction, 
as appropriate, over these features. 
The bill incorporates what we won in the 2016 South China Sea Arbitral Award. 
Under international law, notably Nicaragua v. Colombia (Territorial and Maritime 
Dispute, Judgment, International Court of Justice [ICJ] Reports 2012, p. 624) and Burkina 
Faso v. Mali (Frontier Dispute, Judgment, ICJ Reports 1986, p.554), legislation is an act of 
sovereignty that establishes territorial title. However, such legislation must pertain to the 
disputed territory rather than to a general territorial or maritime area. Since the proposed 
July 19, 2021
10:40 am
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legislation names the individual features, it thus constitutes an act of sovereignty in relation to 
each of these features.  
In paragraphs 573 through 575 of the Award in the South China Sea Arbitration 
between the Republic of the Philippines and the PRC, the Arbitral Tribunal declared that no 
littoral state, including the Philippines, can claim the Spratly Islands as an archipelago and 
enclose it in archipelagic or straight baselines. Thus, it is no longer enough to merely refer to 
the features as Kalayaan Island Group or Troung Sa or Nansha Qundao. Rather, the features in 
the Spratly Islands must be treated as individual rocks with individual territorial seas. The bill 
not only enforces the Award but also ensures that the Philippines is the first claimant to legislate 
the individual names and baselines of the claimed features.  
The Award recognized the EEZ and CS of the Philippines up to the limit of 200 nm 
from the baselines but beyond the 12 nm TS of High Tide Elevations (HTE) or rocks. As some 
of these rocks and their TS are occupied by a foreign state, it is necessary to delineate where 
the contested TS ends and where our uncontested EEZ begins.  
This is especially necessary in features such as Bajo de Masinloc and Pag-Asa where 
Chinese and Vietnamese vessels are always present. We cannot wait for China, Vietnam, or 
Malaysia to adopt baselines around the rocks that they are occupying. This bill draws baselines 
around the contested rocks precisely to enable the Philippines to exercise its rights in its 
uncontested EEZ.  
In sum, this bill is the most inexpensive and yet most effective means of enforcing the 
Arbitral Award and strengthening our territorial and maritime rights in the WPS. 
ANN K. HOFER 
Second District, Zamboanga Sibugay 


Republic of the Philippines 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Quezon City 
18th CONGRESS 
Second Regular Session 
House Bill No. _________ 
Introduced by Representative ANN K. HOFER 
AN ACT IDENTIFYING THE PHILIPPINE MARITIME FEATURES OF THE 
WEST PHILIPPINE SEA, DEFINING THEIR RESPECTIVE APPLICABLE 
BASELINES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress 
assembled:  
SECTION 1. This Act shall be known as the “Philippine Maritime Features of the West 
Philippine Sea Act”. 
SECTION 2. The State in the exercise of its duty to protect its territorial and maritime 
domains shall implement and adhere to the provisions of the 1982 United Nations Convention 
on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the relevant international conventions to which the 
Philippines is a party, and the 12 July 2016 Arbitral Award in the South China Sea Arbitration 
in In re Arbitration Between the Republic of the Philippines and the People's Republic of China, 
PCA Case No. 2013-19. 
SECTION 3. This Act applies to the maritime areas on the western side of the Philippine 
archipelago collectively named as the “West Philippine Sea” under Administrative Order No. 
29, Series of 2012. These areas include the Luzon Sea as well as the waters around, within and 
adjacent to the Kalayaan Island Group and Bajo De Masinloc, also known as Scarborough 
Shoal. 
SECTION 4. The Philippines has sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction, as 
appropriate, over the following identified maritime features in the West Philippine Sea, without 
prejudice to other such features that will be discovered or established as part of Philippine 
sovereignty or jurisdiction in the future: 
Name 
Coordinates 
1. Abad Santos Shoal
9°26′N, 111°55′E  
2. Aguinaldo Reef
To be supplied (TBS) 
3. Alicia Annie Reef
9°22′N, 115°26′E 
4. Alison Reef
8°51′N, 114°00′E 
5. Amboyna Cay
7°51′N, 112°55′E 
6. Ardasier (Antonio Luna) Reef
7°38′N, 113°56′E 
7. Bajo De Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal)
TBS 
9835


8. Ban Than Jiao  
10°24’N, 114°24′E  
9. Barque Canada Reef  
8°10′N, 113°18′E  
10. Baybayin Dagat Bank  
TBS 
11. Binago Island  
TBS  
12. Bisugo Shoal  
11°19′N, 114°35′E  
13. Bombay Castle  
7°56′N, 111°42′E  
14. Bonifacio (Jacinto and Diego Silang) Reefs  
TBS  
15. Brown  
TBS  
16. Bulig Shoal  
9°20′N, 115°56′E  
17. Central Reef  
8°55′N, 116°11′E  
18. Collins Reef  
9°45′N, 114°14′E  
19. Commodore (Rizal) Reef  
8°21′N, 115°17′E  
20. Cornwallis South Reef  
8°44′N, 114°11′E  
21. Coronation Bank  
9°21′N, 111°44′E  
22. Cuarteron (Calderon) Reef  
8°53′N, 112°51′E  
23. Dalag Bank  
11°01′N, 117°16′E  
24. Dalagang Bukid (Investigator NE Shoal) Bank  
9°10′N, 116°25′E  
25. Dallas Reef  
TBS  
26. Day Shoal  
11°26′N, 114°23′E  
27. Del Pilar Reef  
10°48′N, 116°52′E  
28. Dhaulle Shoal  
9°32′N, 112°24′E  
29. Discovery Great Reef  
9°59′N, 113°51′E  
30. Discovery Small Reef  
10°01′N, 114°01′E  
31. Dulong Shoal and Palma Reef  
TBS  
32. East Reef  
8°52′N, 112°46′E  
33. Eldad Reef  
10°21′N, 114°42′E  
34. Erica Reef  
8°6′N, 114°09′E  
35. Fiery Cross Reef  
9°37′N, 112°58′E  
36. Flat (Patag) Island  
10°50′N, 115°49′E  
37. Foulerton Reef  
TBS  
38. Gaven Reef (North)  
10°13′N, 114°12′E  
39. Gitna Reef  
TBS  
40. Gomes Reef  
10°16′N, 113°37′E  
41. Hirane Shoal  
TBS  
42. Hopkins Reef  
10°49′N, 116°06′E  
43. Hubo (Handy) Reef  
TBS  
44. Investigator Shoal  
08°7′N, 114°29′E  
45. Iroquis and Banker Reefs  
10°37′N, 116°11′E  
46. Irving Reef  
10°53′N, 114°56′E  
47. Iroquis Ridge  
TBS  
48. Itu Aba (Ligaw Island)  
10°23′N, 114°21′E  
49. Johnson Patch  
TBS  
50. Johnson Reef  
9°43′N, 114°18′E  
51. Kahoy Bank  
10°35′N, 117°10′E  
52. Kalantiyaw Cay  
7°53′N, 112°55′E  
53. Kanduli Shoal  
9°03′N, 116°41′E  
54. Kingstorm Shoal  
TBS  
55. Kota Bank  
TBS  
56. Kota (Loaita) Island  
10°41′N, 114°25′E  
57. Hasa Hasa Shoal  
8°54′N, 116°16′E  


58.Hizon Reef  
8°56′N, 113°40′E  
59. Jenkin Patches  
TBS  
60. Jubilee Bank  
8°30′N, 116°16′E  
61. Ladd Reef  
8°38′N, 111°40′E  
62. Lagos (Spratley) Island  
8°39′N, 111°29′E  
63. Lansdowne Reef  
9°46′N, 114°22′E  
64. Lankiam Cay (Panata Island)  
10°44′N, 114°31′E  
65.Lapu-Lapu Shoal  
10°20′N, 117°22′E  
66. Lapu-Lapu Reef  
TBS  
67. Lawak Island  
10°44′N, 115°48′E  
68. Leslie Bank  
11°04′N 117° 28′ E  
69. Little Patches  
TBS  
70. Louisa Reef  
6°20′N, 113°14′E  
71. Mabuhangin Shoal  
11°02′N 117° 39′ E  
72. Mahiwagang Diwata  
10°38′N 117° 39′ E  
73. Malvar Reef  
10°21′N 114° 42′ E  
74. Maralie Reef  
9°13′N 113° 40′ E  
75. Maria Louise Bank  
11°55′N 116° 47′ E  
76. Mariano Cay   
TBS  
77. Mariveles Reef  
7°59′N, 113°50′E  
78. Mascardo Reef  
8°04′N, 113°12′E  
79. Menzies Reef  
11°09′N, 114°48′E  
80. Mischief (Panganiban) Reef  
9°55′N, 115°32′E  
81. Namyit  
10°11′N, 114°22′E  
82. Nanshan (Lawak Island)  
10°45′N, 115°49′E  
83. Nares Bank  
11°16′N, 116°03′E  
84. North Danger Reef  
11°N 114°21′E  
85. Northeast Shoal  
TBS  
86. Northeast Cay (Parola island)  
11°28′N, 114°21′E  
87. Orleana Shoal  
TBS  
88. Osmeña Reef  
8°57′N, 114°11′E  
89. Owen Shoal  
TBS  
90. Pagkakaisa Banks and Reef  
TBS  
91. Paredes Reef  
10°01′N, 113°52′E  
92. Parola Island  
11°27′N, 114°21′E  
93. Parola Island Light  
11°27′N, 
 
 
54”N,114°21′ 26”E  
94. Pearson Reefs  
8°58′N, 113°41′E  
95. Petley Reef  
10°24′N, 114°34′E  
96. Pigeon Reef  
8°52′N, 114°39′E  
97. Pugad Island  
TBS  
98.Quezon Reefs  
TBS  
99. Quirino Atoll  
TBS  
100. Rajah Soliman Reef  
9°36′N, 116°10′E  
101. Recto Bank  
TBS  
102. Rifleman Bank  
TBS  
103. Rizal Reef  
8°21′N, 115°18′E  
104. Royal Charlotte Reef  
6°56′N, 113°36′E  
105.Rurok Island  
9°53′N, 114°20′E  
106. Sabina Patches  
TBS  


107. Sabina Shoal  
TBS  
108. Sand Cay  
10°23′N, 114°28′E  
109. Sandy Cay  
TBS  
110. Second Thomas Shoal (Ayungin Shoal)  
18º 23'N, 110 2'E  
111. Shinko Shoal  
TBS  
112. Sikatuna Shoal  
10°06′N, 117°22′E  
113. Silangan Reef  
TBS  
114. Sin Cowe  
9°52′N, 114°19′E  
115. South Reef  
11°23′N, 114°18′E  
116. Southern Bank  
10°41′N, 116°50′E  
117. Southwest Cay  
11°26′N, 114°20′E  
118. Spratly  
8°38′N, 114°25′E  
119. Stag Shoal  
TBS  
120. Subi Reef  
10°54′N, 114°06′E  
121. Swallow Reef  
7°23′N, 113°48′E  
122. Tatlong Tulis Shoal  
TBS  
123. Tennent Reef  
8°50′N, 114°36′E  
124. Thitu (Pag-Asa Island)  
11°03′N, 114°17′E  
125. Tizard Bank  
10°16’59.33”N, 
 
 
114°26’37.81”E  
126. West Reef  
8°52′N, 112°15′E  
127. West York (Likas Island)  
11°05′N, 115°01′E  
128. Whitson Reef (Julian Felipe Reef)  
10°00′N, 114°43′E  
129. Zamora Reef  
10°74′N, 114°06′E 
 
The National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA) shall complete 
the coordinates for the aforementioned maritime features. 
 
SECTION 5. The breadth of the territorial sea adjacent to the coast of each island shall 
extend to a distance of twelve nautical miles measured seaward from the baselines. 
 
SECTION 6. The breadth of the contiguous zone shall extend to a distance of 24 nautical 
miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured. 
 
SECTION 7.  The NAMRIA shall identify the base points and baselines of the following 
offshore rocks or high tide features within the West Philippine Sea, without prejudice to the 
determination of the baselines of other such maritime features over which the Philippines has 
sovereignty and jurisdiction in the future: 
 
Name  
  
1. Abad Santos Shoal  
 
2. Alicia Annie Reef  
 
3. Bajo De Masinloc  
 
4. Baybayin Dagat Bank  
 
5. Binago Island  
 
6. Commodore (Rizal) Reef  
 
7. Cuarteron (Calderon) Reef  
 
8. Flat (Patag) Island  
 
9. Fiery Cross (Kagitingan) Reef  
 
10. Gaven Reef (North)  
 


11. Hasa Hasa Shoal  
 
12. Investigator Shoal  
 
13. Itu Aba (Ligaw Island)  
 
14. Jacinto Reef  
 
15. Johnson (Mabini) Reef  
 
16. Kota Bank  
 
17. Kota (Loaita) Island  
 
18. Lagos (Spratley) Island  
 
19. Lapu Lapu Shoal  
 
20. Malvar Reef  
 
21. Mckennan Reef  
 
22. Nanshan (Lawak Island)  
 
23. Northeast Cay (Parola Island)  
 
24. Paredes Reef  
 
25. Parola Island Light  
 
26. Quirino Atoll  
 
27. Royal Charlotte Reef  
 
28. Rurok Island  
 
29. Sabina Shoal  
 
30. Sandy Cay  
 
31. Sin Cowe Island  
 
32. Swallow Reef  
 
33. Tennent Reef  
 
34. Thitu (Pag-Asa Island)  
 
35. West York (Likas Island)  
 
 
SECTION 8. The rights of the Philippines over the territorial sea and contiguous zone 
of each maritime feature identified in this Act, as may be applicable, shall be exercised in 
accordance with Philippine laws and international law, particularly the United Nations Charter 
and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), as interpreted in the 
Award dated 12 July 2006 rendered by the Arbitral Tribunal in In re Arbitration Between the 
Republic of the Philippines and the People's Republic of China, PCA Case No. 2013-19. 
 
SECTION 9. The NAMRIA shall produce and publish charts and maps of the 
Philippines to implement this Act, within six (6) months from the effectivity thereof. 
 
SECTION 10. All departments, agencies, and instrumentalities of the Government shall 
use and employ the designations of the maritime features named and identified in this Act in 
all communications, messages and public documents, to institutionalize the use of such 
designations by the general public, both domestically and internationally. 
 
SECTION 11. All departments, agencies, and instrumentalities of the Government shall 
henceforth use the official Philippine maps and charts produced and published by NAMRIA in 
accordance with this Act. 
 
For this purpose, the Department of Education (DepEd), the Commission on Higher 
Education (CHED), and state universities and colleges (SUCs) shall issue circulars requiring 
the use of said official Philippine maps in relevant subjects, researches and instructional 
materials, such as text books, instructional materials, electronic, web, social media, and audio-
visual presentations, among others. 


 
SECTION 12. The Government, through the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), and 
in consultation with NAMRIA and other appropriate government agencies, shall deposit, 
within six months of its effectivity, a copy of this Act, enclosing the official maps and charts 
of the Philippines reflecting the aforementioned maritime features, their coordinates, baselines, 
territorial seas and where applicable, their contiguous zones, with the Secretary-General of the 
United Nations and notify accordingly relevant international organizations, such as the 
International Hydrographic Organization and the United Nations Conference on the 
Standardization of Geographical Names. 
 
SECTION 13. The Heads of Agencies concerned shall include in their programs the 
implementation of this Act, the funding of which shall be included in the Annual General 
Appropriations Act. 
 
SECTION 14. Should any part or provision of this Act be held unconstitutional or 
invalid, the other parts or provisions not affected thereby shall continue to be in full force and 
effect. 
 
SECTION 15. The provisions of Presidential Decree No. 1596, Republic Act No. 9522 
and Republic Act No. 3046, as amended by Republic Act No. 5446, and all other laws, decrees, 
executive orders, rules, and issuances inconsistent with this Act are hereby amended or 
modified accordingly. 
 
SECTION 16. This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days following its publication in the 
Official Gazette or in any two (2) newspapers of general circulation. 
 
 
 
Approved,