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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 territorial, 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. ( Article I, 1987 Constitution)
Historical definition of the national territory
The Philippines is a catenation of more than 7,100 islands and islets lying southeast of Asia a little above the equator almost directly north of the East Indies. A hundred miles north lies Taiwan; on the northwest is the China Sea and on the east is the Pacific Ocean. Downs south lies the Celebes Sea and the waters of Borneo.
The Philippine mainland stretches from north to south about a thousand miles with a total land area of about 114,830 square miles, one-half of which is covered by forest. It has a coastline of 10,850 statute miles which is more than two times larger than that of the United States
Philippine Territory Under the 1935 Constitution
The 1935 constitution does not actually define what constitutes the national territory of the Philippines.
Under international law, the national territory of a given state is co-extensive with the territory over which it can legitimately exercise its sovereignty or jurisdiction.
Section, 1 Article I of the 1935 Constitution makes reference to treaties with respect to the determination of what constitutes the national territory of the Philippines. These treaties are:
(1) The Treaty of Paris of 10 December 1898
(2) The Treaty of Washington of 7 December 1900;
(3) The Treaty between Great Britain and the United States of 2 January
1930; including
(4) "all territory over which the present government of the Philippines
Islands exercise jurisdiction."
Section 1 of Article I of the 1935 Constitution defines the national territory of the Philippines as comprising -
"all the territories ceded to the united States by the Treaty of Paris concluded between the United States and Spain on the tenth day of December, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, the limits of which are set forth in Article II of said treat together with all the islands embraced in the treaty concluded at Washington, between the United States and Spain on the seventh day of November, nineteen hundred and in the treaty concluded between the United States and Great Britain on the second day of January, nineteen hundred and thirty, and all territory over which the present government of the Philippines Islands exercises jurisdiction."
The above-quoted provision does not give the delineation with respect to the extent of the territories embraced in what the 1935 Constitution speaks as comprising the national territory or all the territory over which the present government of the Philippine Islands exercise jurisdiction.
The National Territory Under the 1973 Constitution
The delegates to the 1971 Constitutional Convention found it necessary that in the new constitution they are drafting, they must define exactly what constitutes the national territory of the Philippines.
They deliberately avoided reference to the Treaty of Paris, the Treaty of Washington and the Treaty between the United States and Great Britain to obliterate any vestige of colonialism.
The national territory if the Philippines was divided into three categories:
(1) The Philippine Archipelago;
(2) The other territories belonging to the Philippines; and
(3) The Philippine waters, air space and submarine areas.
The national territory of the Philippines under the 1973 Constitution reads as follows:
Section 1. The national territory comprises the Philippine Archipelago, with all the islands and waters embraced therein, and all the other territories belonging to the Philippines by historic right or title, including the terrestrial sea, the air space, the subsoil, the seabed, the insular shelves, and the other submarine areas, over which the Philippines has sovereignty or jurisdiction. The waters around, between, and connecting the islands of the archipelago, irrespective of their breadth and dimension, form part of the internal waters of the Philippines."
The National Territory Under 1987 Constitution
Like the 1973 Constitution, the national territory of the Philippines is divided into three groups:
(1) The Philippine archipelago;
(2) All other territories over which the Philippines has sovereignty or
jurisdiction; and
(3) The internal waters of the Philippines.
a) The Philippine Archipelago
The Philippine archipelago was defined in the treaty of Paris between the United States and Spain on 10 December 1898 and in the treaty of Washington on 7 November 1900.
The Committee on National Territory in the 1971 Constitutional Convention, as contained in its Report No. 01, delineated the expanse of the Philippine archipelago as follows:
Now if we plot on a map the boundaries of this archipelago as set forth in the Treaty of Paris, a large or giant rectangle will emerge, measuring about 600 miles in width, and over 1,200 miles in length. Inside this giant rectangle are the 7,00 islands comprising the Philippine Islands. From the east coast of Luzon to the eastern boundary of this huge rectangle is the Pacific Ocean, there is a distance of over 100 miles. From the west coast of Luzon in the western boundary if this giant rectangle is the China Sea, there is a distance over 150 miles.
Upon the signing of the Treaty of Paris, Spain ceded to the United States the "Philippine archipelago" which she had been occupying for over three hundred years.
The delineation with respect to the limits of the Philippine archipelago under the 1935 Constitution based on the Treaty of Paris, was later modified by the Treaty of Washington between the United States and Great Britain of 7 November 1900 and the Convention of 2 January 1930 in order to include the islands of Sibutu, that of Cagayan de Sulu and the Mangasee islands.
The Batanes islands were not included in the Philippine acrhipelago as set forth under the Treaty of Paris. Geographically and historically, however, the Batenes always formed part of the Philippine archipelago.
Chairman Quintero of the Committee on National Territory of the 1971 Constitutional Convention, opined that Batanes has always been part of Philippines by "historic right", adding that the jurisdiction of the Philippines over islands is based on "legal title" perfected in 1962.
By legal title means all accepted legal modes of acquiring territory. And, the Philippines, under the 1973 Constitution may lawfully acquire territory not covered by Article 1.
b) All other territories over which the Philippines has sovereignty or jurisdiction
The phrase "all other territories belonging to the Philippines by historic right or legal title" in the 1973 Constitution has been deleted, and it not reads "all other territories over which the Philippines has sovereignty or jurisdiction." The reference to the old treaties were deliberately eliminated. It is sufficient to use the term "Philippine archipelago" with all the islands and waters embraced therein, to support our fluvial and other boundaries contemplated under the Convention of the Law of the Sea.
c) The Internal Waters of the Philippines
The internal waters of the Philippines under the 1987 Constitution is provided under the last sentence of the provision on national territory as follows:
"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."
This particular proviso relating to the internal waters of the Philippine embodies the so-called archipelagic principle as adopted by the Law of the Sea, to make the Philippines, with its many islands and many seas considered as one political unit for reasons of history, law, geography, economics and security.
Under the archipelagic theory as constitutionalized in Article I of the new charter, the waters around, between and connecting the islands of the archipelago irresoective of their breadth and dimensions, form part of the internal waters of the Philippines.
Thus, the 7,100 islands comprising out terrestrial domain should be considered one integrated whole instead of as separate components to be each provided with its won territorial sea, as this would uses of other states to the prejudice of our country.
The baseline from which the territorial sea is to be determined consists of straight lines joining appropriate points of the outermost island of the archipelago. Connecting lines are, therefore, drawn to enclose the entire archipelago.
Without prejudice to the rights of the republic of the Philippines over its territorial sea and continental shelf, Presidential Decree No. 1599 promulgated on June 11, 1978, established the exclusive economic zone of the Philippine extending to a distance of two hundred nautical miles beyond and from the baseline from which the territorial sea is measured. Under this decree, the Philippines shall exercise in the exclusive economic zone the following:
a. Sovereign rights for the purpose of exploration and exploitation, conversation and management of the natural resources, whether living or non-living, both renewable and non-renewable, of the seabed, including the subsoil and the superjacent waters, and with regard to other activities for the economic exploitation and exploration of the resources of the zone such as the production of energy from the water, currents and winds;
b. Exclusive rights and jurisdiction with respect to the establishment and utilization of artificial islands, offshore terminals, installation and structures, the preservation of the marine environment, including the prevention and control of pollution, and scientific research;
c. Such other rights as are recognized international law or state practice. (Sec. 2, P.D. 1599)
d) The Air Space
The air space refers to that part of the air extending into space over the land and water territory of the Philippines based on Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention on International Aviation adopted in Chicago in 1944.
e) The Subsoil
The subsoil has reference to the soil found under the surface soil based on Section 1, Article 2 of the Convention on the Territorial Sea and Continuous Zone adopted in Geneva in 1958.
f) The Seabed
The seabed refers to the land below the sea that holds it extending from the low-water mark into the sea based on the same article of the Convention on the Territorial Sea and Continuous Zone.
g) The Insular Shelves
The insular shelves known in international law as the continental shelves are the submarine platform that form part of the seabed which is united to the mainland of adjacent or coastal island sloping gently from the low waterline into open sea.
Objectives Defining the National Territory
Three basic fundamental political concepts are apparent in defining the national territory with unmistakable clarity. These are:
First, to fix the territorial jurisdiction of the Philippines for purposes of possible future conflicts it may have with other states;
Second, to make the people know something of their territorial home; and
Third, to enable the Philippines to protect its territorial integrity to prevent any attempt at any time for any portion of the country to secede particularly the Muslim population.
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