Senator Francis Tolentino has sought the enactment of forward-looking law that establishes Philippine archipelagic sea lanes.
(Senate Public Relations & Information Bureau / FILE PHOTO)
This, as China has ‘’encroached’’ on Philippines territory by submitting name proposals for undersea features on Benham Rise—also called the Philippine Rise—off the coast of Aurora, that Beijing had earlier named.
The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) has rejected the Philippines' bid to reverse the approval of China's proposals to name undersea features Haidongqing Seamount, Jinghao Seamount, Tianbao Seamount, Jujiu Seamounts and Cuiqiao Hill in Benham Rise.
Tolentino told the Senate foreign relations committee chaired by Senator Aquilino Pimentel III in a hybrid hearing last Thursday, March 18, that there is no forward-looking provision in Senate Bill 560 authored by Senator Imee Marcos.
He said the Philippine archipelagic baseline should start from Isabela province to the island province of Catanduanes that would encompass the Philippine Rise.
The measure urges the Executive branch to establish the archipelagic sea lanes of the Philippine archipelagic waters, prescribing rights of foreign ships and aircraft exercising the right of archipelagic sea lanes passage through designated sea lanes.
The governing body over the 13-million hectare Rise is the Philippines and it was recognized by the United Nations in 2012. It is computed as containing 50,000 square miles of undersea territory with undersea natural resources.
It is some 250 kilometers east of Dinapigue, Isabela. It is within the Philippine Sea.
Tolentino said the Rise is slowly rising and might become as big as Luzon, probably less than a century hence.
Hence, this probability should not be excluded in the discussion by the committee with resource speakers such as those coming from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and Philippine Coast Guard.
DFA experts cited reasons why the Senate committee should pass the measure posthaste.
Senator Marcos’ younger brother, then Senator Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., filed a similar bill during his Senate tenure.
This prompted the Pimentel to accelerate its hybrid hearing and later went into closed-door meeting.
The Philippines' National Mapping and Resources Information Authority (NAMRIA) submitted names for 16 undersea features during the IHO's Sub-committee on Undersea Feature Names (SCUFN) meeting on Oct. 25, 2018 in New Zealand.
Manila's protest, however, came a few years too late as Beijing's proposals to rename undersea features in the area were submitted to the SCUFN as early as 2015.