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The Kalayaan Islands, part of the Spratly Islands
whose ownership is being claimed by several countries, are
considered part of the national territory under a set of amendments
to the 1987 Constitution being proposed by majority of senators, the
centerpiece of which is the adoption of a federal system of
government.
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino
Pimentel Jr. said Friday that Joint Resolution 10, which he and 15
other senators have filed, includes a new paragraph in the Article
on the National Territory that clearly asserts that the disputed
Kalayaan Islands and Scarborough Shoal belong to the Philippines.
However, Pimentel said the new
paragraph does not specifically mention Kalayaan Islands,
Scarborough Shoal or even Sabah, which was annexed by Malaysia
despite ownership claim by the Sultanate of Sulu.
The new paragraph in the Article
on National Territory reads, “The national territory shall
likewise include all islands occupied or claimed by the republic out
of historic title, by discovery or other means recognized under
international law and its exclusive economic zone as defined by the
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.”
Pimentel stressed the importance
of asserting and pursuing the Philippine claim of sovereignty over
the Kalayaan Island, Scarborough Shoal and other islets, reefs or
shoals that are not clearly delineated to be within the boundaries
even of existing maps of the country.
“Moreover, we have not yet
drawn up the metes and bounds of our exclusive economic zone as
mandated by the United Nations [UN] Convention on the Law of the
Sea,” the minority leader pointed out.
The Spratly Islands in the South
China Sea, believed to have vast deposits of oil, gas and other
precious minerals, are being claimed by the Philippines, China,
Vietnam, Taiwan, and Brunei. On the other hand, the Scarborough
Shoal, which is near the Luzon island, is being claimed by the
Philippines and China.
Pimentel has filed a bill, which
seeks to delineate the archipelagic baselines of the Philippines
which places the Kalayaan Islands and Scarborough Shoal within the
baselines, meaning they are part and parcel of the national
territory. This is in contrast to the stand of Malacañang that the
Kalayaan Islands and Scarborough Shoal should be treated merely as a
“regime of islands” to which the Philippines has a standing
territorial claim.
“It should be made abundantly
clear that by making our claims to the Kalayaan Islands and
Scarborough Shoal, we are not going to war against China or any
other country that have made similar claims on these islands and
shoals,” Pimentel said.
He also said Congress should
enact the law on the archipelagic baselines before the May 2009
deadline set by the UN so that the country’s claim to an expanded
maritime territory would not be jeopardized or worse, forfeited.
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