‘Generational’ legacy

After almost three decades, a journey started by the late patriot senator Arturo Tolentino finally reached its conclusion. Tolentino was well known as the “father of the archipelagic doctrine” and was an expert on the Law of the Sea. As a senator, he led the Philippine delegation to various sessions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea ().

As fate would have it, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) completed the journey of the Philippines by coming up with the “archipelagic doctrine” now officially embedded in the body of laws here and internationally. This was after PBBM signed the two landmark statutes last week that would now be submitted to the UNCLOS and other international bodies as official reference points to our country’s internal and external sea territories. These are, namely, Republic Acts (RA) 12064 or the Philippine Maritime Zones Act and RA 12065 or the Philippine Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act.

The twin laws were principally authored and sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino. The senator heads the Senate special committee on maritime and admiralty zones which shepherded their approval in the 19th Congress. Speaking at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum last Wednesday, Tolentino told us the seeds of the two laws were planted 30 years ago by the late senator Tolentino, his distant relative.

Tolentino believes there is no need for any implementing rules and regulations (IRR), contrary to the statement of National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA) administrator Peter Tiangco. The NAMRIA chief declared to the press his agency will wait for the IRR before printing out new Philippine maps accordingly.

“We really have to have a new map. I would like to correct though NAMRIA. There is no need for implementing rules to be crafted for them to start mapping. The law itself is enough,” Tolentino pointed out. Malacañang has already published these two new laws in one national daily. Thus, they will take effect 15 days after publication also in the Official Gazette.

According to NAMRIA, once the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) processes are concluded and the specific coordinates are fixed, the sea lanes, with the air routes above them, will take effect six months after their proclamation by the President.

The official copies of the Philippine Maritime Zones Act under RA12064 will be delivered to the UNCLOS, while the Philippine Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act under RA 12065 will be turned over to the IMO and the ICAO to delineate also the “overflights” of aircraft covered by the international rights of innocent passage and freedom of navigation.

Under the newly-signed Philippine Maritime Zones Act, a Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on the Law of the Sea (JOC-LOS) will be composed of six senators and six from the House of Representatives. A re-electionist running under PBBM’s Partido Federal ng Pilipinas, Sen. Tolentino hopes to be included in the JOC-LOS once this is composed by the next Congress if he wins in next year’s May polls. As provided for in RA 12064, the JOC-LOS is mandated “to conduct a hearing at least once every quarter to review the implementation” of this law.

The senator also proposed to set up a dedicated Maritime Desk that would focus on helping ordinary fishermen identify areas in which they can fish and ensure their safety within our 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) as provided in UNCLOS.

Meanwhile, Tolentino noted with confidence the immediate impact of the passage of the two new laws with the continuing Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) transgressions into our West Philippine Sea (WPS) territories. Ignoring the July 2016 ruling of The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration in favor of our WPS claims, Beijing kept insisting on their imaginary nine-dash-line claims over the entire South China Sea (SCS).

Reacting to the two new Philippine laws, Beijing released anew their own maps showing their supposed sovereign claims over the shoals of Panatag (Scarborough) and Escoda (Sabina). Our country’s ambassador to China, Jaime FlorCruz, was even summoned to explain to Beijing about the two news laws, which they deemed as another act of provocation of the Philippines in contesting the SCS.

Tit for tat. On the sidelines of the 2025 budget bill deliberations at the Senate plenary last Tuesday, Tolentino disclosed he suggested to Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Enrique Manalo to do the same to the Chinese ambassador in Manila. “Summon the ambassador, these are new laws, I hope it clarifies everything,” Tolentino said he told Manalo.

“But Secretary Manalo told me that the ambassador is currently not in the country and is on a month-long leave,” he quickly added.

“We should not be pressured and bullied into a corner. The mere fact that they are reacting and behaving in that manner is a clear indication that our position is right, based on the might of international law,” Tolentino stressed. “I can even deliver [a copy] of the laws to them,” he added.

“We deserve and expect respect as a sovereign nation,” Senator Tolentino declared.

Tolentino, however, looks forward to the incoming administration in the United States by January next year when newly elected American president Donald Trump returns to the White House. In particular, Tolentino welcomed the announcement that Trump picked Republican Representative Mike Waltz to be his national security adviser (NSA). A retired Army Green Beret who has been a leading critic of China, Tolentino noted Trump obviously trusts Waltz to provide wise counsel on US security concerns on the heightened Chinese military presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

Aside from the US, Tolentino also cited the sustained expressions of support to our WPS claims by other allied nations like Japan and Australia, among the first to hail the two new laws.

“Jose P. Rizal will be proud of us,” Senator Tolentino quipped. He, of course, was referring to our country’s national hero.

Tolentino described two new laws as a “generational legacy” that will benefit not just the people of the Philippines at present but the Filipino children and their future grandchildren.

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