The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) on Sunday, June 30, urged the government to provide protection to Filipino fishermen in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

"Filipino fishermen have the legal right to go fishing within the 200 miles Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone; while the Philippine government is duty-bound to provide protection to our fishermen inside this zone," the IBP said in a statement.

It pointed out that it stands with Filipino fishermen "who are only exercising their right to a livelihood inside our own Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).”

IBP's statement was issued apparently becauseof the rising tensions between Manila and Beijing over territorial claims. 

“The Integrated Bar of the Philippines also supports the legitimate stand of the Philippine government in asserting our country’s lawful and sovereign rights over the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the West Philippine Sea,” it stressed. 

It reminded that both the Philippines and China are signatories of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS) which in 1982 granted coastal states sovereign rights over their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ), extending up to 200 nautical miles from their baselines. 

“Therefore, the West Philippine Sea is inside the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) to the extent of 200 miles measured from our country’s archipelagic baselines,” the IBP said. 

The EEZ, it also said, includes the Bajo de Masinloc, also known as Scarborough Shoal, which is 120 miles from Zambales and 196 miles from Palawan.

The Philippine government has stationed troops aboard the BRP Sierra Madre which was intentionally run aground in 1999 to become an outpost.

The IBP said the country’s territorial claims was fortified when the Permanent Court of Arbitration issued a 2016 decision confirming that the Philippines has sovereign rights over its 200 miles EEZ in the WPS.

“This decision clarified that the Philippines shall enjoy all economic rights within its EEZ, including fishing, resource exploration, and marine conservation,” it explained.

Prior UNCLOS, the IBP said the 1898 Treaty of Paris, which concluded the Spanish-American War, “clearly delineated the territorial boundaries of the Philippine archipelago.”

“According to Article III of the Treaty of Paris, Spain ceded to the United States all rights of sovereignty over the Philippines, including the waters surrounding the islands,” it said. 

“Further reinforcing this, the Spanish-US Treaty of Washington in 1900 supplemented the Treaty of Paris by clarifying and affirming the cession of additional islands to the United States, as part of Philippine territory,” it added. 

When the Philippines gained independence, the IBP said “all these islands covered by the Treaty of Paris and Treaty of Washington that form part of the Philippine archipelago became part of our country’s territory.”