|
Malacanang has urged Congress to pass a measure that updates the
scope of the country’s territory to include the disputed Spratly
Islands, despite the protest of China, Presidential Chief Legal
Counsel Sergio Apostol said.
“Congress should purse amendment of the
existing law on the [country’s] continental shelf. Otherwise we
will no longer claim what is ours within the 200-mile exclusive
economic zone which was granted by UNCLOS [United Nations Convention
on Law of the Sea]. We have to work for its passage by May 2008,”
Apostol said.
And if China has complaints, Apostol said that
country should raise the issue to the United Nations, which is the
proper venue to resolve the matter. In the meantime, the Philippines
should follow the provisions of the UNCLOS.
Apostol noted that House Bill 3216, which was
passed on second reading last December, was even classified as a
“priority” measure by the Legislative-Executive Development
Advisory Council.
Apostol shrugged off reports that the Spratly
issue would create tension between claimant countries based on
China’s statements.
“No. It will not create tension [because] some
of the disputed Spratly Islands are really ours and the President
[Gloria Arroyo] will back up the bill that would set the baseline
territory of the country’s 12-mile territorial sea, 24-mile
contiguous zone and the 200-mile exclusive economic zone,” he
said.
On Wednesday, Cebu Rep. Antonio Cuenco, House
foreign relations committee chairman, acknowledged that a protest
from China, coursed through the Philippine embassy in Beijing, had
stalled the passage of HB 3216.
China warned that the country’s move to define
its territory could affect peace in the disputed Spratly Islands,
which are also being claimed by Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore, and
Brunei.
-- Angelo S. Samonte
|
