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FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
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First Regular Session 
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REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
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SENATE 
S. B. No. 
Introduced by SENATOR EDGARDO J. ANGARA 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
Article I of the Philippine Constitution provides that 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." 
While the provision provides for the composition of the Philippine 
territory, it failed however, to define the baselines of the territorial sea. 
The 1982 United Nutions Convention on the Lazu of the Sea (UNCLOS) which 
the Philippines ratified in 1984 provides that an archipelagic state is a "group of 
islands including parts of islands, interconnecting waters and other natural 
features which are so closely interrelated that such islands, waters and other 
natural features form an intrinsic geographical, economic and political entity or 
which historically have been regarded as such." It then set the 12-mile nautical 
territorial sea, the 24-mile contiguous zone and the 200-mile Exclusive Economic 
Zone (EEZ) as the limits of the archipelagic jurisdiction 
Further, the UNCLOS allows claims beyond the 200-mile baseline. 
However, any claimant State Party is required to submit particulars of the limits 
to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf along with the 
supporting scientific data within ten (10) years from May 13,1999. 
RA 3046 otherwise known as "An Act Defining Baselines of the Territorial 
Sea of the Philippines as amended by RA 5446, defines the baselines of the 
Philippine territory. However, the law does not include our claim by historic 
right on the Kalayaan Group of Islands over which the Philippines exercises 
sovereignty. 


It is then the purpose of this bill to re-define the Philippine Archipelagic 
Baselines under RA 3046 as amended by RA 5446 to conform to the provisions of 
the UNCLOS and meet the deadline. 
If the Philippines will not be able to meet this deadline, the extended 
continental shelf (ECS) areas which we are claiming can either be considered as 
part of the International Seabed Area, or the so called "Common Heritage of 
Mankind" or be awarded to a neighbor state which filed and was able to prove 
its claim over the area. 
Losing our extended continental shelf claim will have disastrous effects as 
the same contains mineral resources such as nickel and gold as well as living 
organisms belonging to the sedentary species which are primarily raw materials 
for pharmaceutical products. The Reed Alone which is potential ECS for the 
Philippines is said to contain the following energy resources: 3.9 Cubic feet of 
gas, 35 million barrels of oil and 21 billion barrels of condensate. 
The 
Department of Energy puts the value of those resources at $19.9 million, $2.1 
billion and $1.2 billion respectively. 
With the period to expire next year, the immediate passage of this bill is 
imperative. 
EDGAR 
&Jxd+ 
J. ANGARA 
Senator 


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FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
1 
First Regular Session 
1 
. . . .  , 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
1 
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Basepoint 
No. 
SENATE 
WGS 84 Coordinates 
Latitude 
1 Longitude (E) 
Station 
Location 
Name 
(N) 
S. B.No. 218% 
Introduced by SENATOR EDGARDO J. ANGARA 
AN ACT 
DEFINING THE ARCHIPELAGIC BASELINES OF THE PHILIPPINE 
ARCHIPELAGO, AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE REPUBLIC ACT NO. 
3046, AS AMENDED BY REPUBLIC ACT NO. 5446 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress 
assern bled: 
SECTION 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the Archipelagic 
Baselines La717 of the Philippines. 
SECTION 2. Declaration of Policy. - The Philippines is an archipelagic 
state and its national territory comprises the Philippine archipelago, with all the 
islands and waters 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. 
SECTION 3. Archipelagic Baselines. - The geographical coordinates of 
the location basepoints of the archipelagic baselines of the Philippines are hereby 
defined and prescribed as follows: 
Distance to 
next point 
(M) 


I PAB-01 I Amiananb. 
I121"57 
69.99 
99.21 
71.83 
1.05 
0.39 
3.29 
9.74 
3.51 
2.40 
31.13 
116.54* 
80.29 
0.54 
96.04 
6.79 
5.52 
0.80 
4.90 
1.30 
7.69 
5.68 
5.21 
1 
83.96 
56.32 
1 


I PAB-20 
1 TuasonPt. 
I 9"48' 
1 126 "10' 
2 


I PAB-43 I Alice Reef 
I 4"46' 
1119" 3' 
83 
84 
81 
35.22" 
56.00" 
82 
21.45" 
5.86" 
PAB-68 
Cabra Is. 
13" 53' 
120" 1' 
PAB-71 
Hermana Mayor Is. 
15" 48' 
119 "46' 
43.61" 
56.09" 
51.67" 
55.32" 
PAB-72 
Tambobo Pt. 
15" 57' 
119 "44' 
1.66 
18.60 
23.37 
44.20 
75.18 
8.56 
13.48 
3.94 
5.53 
41.68 
74.83 
25.95 
2.34 
5.07 
2.27 
7.42 
11.28 
30.52 
8.86 
10.94 
13.20 
81.12 
82.76 
74.65 
93.88 
115.69* 
9.30 
12.06 
3 


* - Long baseline (100 to 125 nm). Total is 3 which is less than 3% of the total number 
of basepoints/baselines. 
SECTION 4. Other Territories Beyond the Archipelagic Baselines. - The 
Kalayaan Island Group as defined under Presidential Decree 1596 shall have a 
territorial sea and continuous exclusive zone measured from the normal baseline. 
SECTION 5. Without Prejudice Clause. - The delineation of baselines as 
provided in this Act shall be without prejudice to any claim to any contested 
portions of the national territory or maritime zones and jurisdictions of the 
Philippines, in accordance with international law and under appropriate 
international dispute resolution mechanisms. 
4 


SECTION 6. Vested Rights. - The delineation of baselines as provided in 
this Act shall be without prejudice to vested rights existing or being claimed by 
virtue of Republic Act No. 7160, otherwise known as the Local Government Code 
of 1991, as amended, and other laws which give rise to local government 
allotments and shares in the income generated from natural resources within the 
national territory as delineated prior to this Act. 
SECTION 7. Registration with the United Nations. - This Act, together 
with the geographic coordinates and the charts and maps indicating the 
aforesaid baselines, shall be deposited and registered with the Secretary General 
of the United Nations. 
SECTION 8. - Issuance of Appropriate Charts and Maps. - The National 
Mapping and Resources Information Authority (NAMRIA) shall forthwith 
produce and publish charts and maps, of the appropriate scale clearly 
representing the delineation of base points and baselines as set forth in this Act. 
SECTION 9. Repealing Clause. - Republic Act 3046 as amended by 
Republic Act 5446 and all other laws, decrees, executive orders, rules and 
issuances inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed, amended or modified. 
SECTION 10. Separability Clause. - If any provision of this Act is 
declared invalid or unconstitutional, the provisions not affected thereby shall 
continue to be in full force and effect. 
SECTION 11. Eflectivity Clause. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) 
days from the date of publication in the Official Gazette or in two (2) 
newspapers of general circulation. 
Approved, 
5