Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez welcomed the signing into law by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of the Maritime Zones Act and the Philippine Archipelagic Sea Lanes Law Nov. 8.
“The two laws enhance our efforts to protect our sovereign rights over the West Philippine Sea (WPS) and to preserve and exploit the resources in these waters for the benefit of our people,” Romualdez, leader of the 300-plus-strong House of Representatives, said.
He said that protecting the disputed waters that are inside the country’s 200-mile special economic zone “is not just a matter of national pride, it is also an economic and food security, and legacy imperative.”
He said that based on surveys and studies, the West Philippine Sea “holds vast marine and oil and gas resources that we should preserve for the future generation of Filipinos.”
He said in a press release that the enactment of the two laws “signals to our neighbors, our allies, and to the whole world our steadfast commitment to protect what is rightfully and legally ours.”
He thanked Marcos for his unwavering resolve to defend the country’s interests in the contested waters.
He said the two new laws are also consistent with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which grants the country an entitlement to a 200-mile exclusive economic zone and allows it to pass national legislation to protect its EEZ.
The Philippines and China are both UNCLOS signatories.
Romualdez said the two newly-minted laws also strengthen the July 2016 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration recognizing the Philippines’ EEZ under UNCLOS and rejecting China’s expansive claims in the South China Sea, including the WPS.
He urged China to end its occupation of these areas and to allow the Philippines unhindered assertion of its sovereign and legal rights over the West Philippine Sea and the preservation of marine gas and oil resources in these waters. ||
