Magallano vs.

Ermita, GR 187167, July 16, 2011 (En

Banc), J. Martin
FACTS: Congress passed RA 3046, establishing the maritime baselines of the
Philippines. This baselines, consisting of straight lines joining appropriate points of
the outermost islands, determined the territorial waters of the Philippines. Decades
after, RA 3046 was amended by RA 9522, shortening one baseline, optimizing some
base points and classified the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) and Scarborough Shoal
as regimes of islands.

Petitioners Magallano et al. assail the constitutionality of RA 9522, stating inter alia
that it is violative of Article I of the 1987 Constitution, embodying the terms of the
Treaty of Paris and ancillary treaties. Respondents defended RA 9522 by stating
that it was passed in compliance with UNCLOS III, which the Philippines ratified
on 27 February 1984, and preserves PH territory over the KIG or Scarborough Shoal.

ISSUE: Is RA 9255 unconstitutional?

RULING: NO. UNCLOS III has nothing to do with the acquisition of territory. It,
instead, regulates sea-use rights over maritime zones (territorial waters - 12 n.m.
from baselines), contiguous zone (area bordering the maritime zones - 24 n.m. from
baselines), exclusive economic zone (area beyond and adjacent to maritime zone -
200 n.m. from baselines), and continental shelves that UNCLOS III delimits.
Whereas, RA 9522 mark out specific baselines to serve as geographic starting points
to measure the breadth of maritime zones and continental shelf. Under traditional
international law typology, States acquire or lose territory through occupation,
accretion, cession, and prescription and not by multilateral treaties. The purpose of
setting these baselines is to show the extent of our maritime zone. This would give
notice to the other States the scope of the same, within which a State may exercise
its rights, as exploiting natural resources.

For the KIG and Scarborough Shoal, it must be noted that they were not within the
baselines since RA 3046 to begin with. Second, RA 9522 explicitly states in its
Section 2 that the Philippines retains sovereignty and jurisdiction over these areas.
Had Congress enclose the KIG and Scarborough Shoal as part of the Philippine
archipelago, the Philippines would be breaching the UNCLOS III by violating
Section 47(2), (3), i.e. that each baseline shall not exceed 100 n.m. and such lines
shall not depart to any appreciable extent from the general configuration of the
archipelago. In fact, one of the baselines RA 3046 was too long; this was fixed by
RA 9522.
As to the claim that RA 9522 causing the loss of 15,000 n.m., RA 9522 actually
increased the total maritime space (the internal waters, territorial sea, and EEZ) by
145, 216 n.m. This area actually extends beyond the rectangular boundary set forth
in the Treaty of Paris.

NOTES:
The treaties alluded to are the following:
1. Treaty of Paris - Spain ceded to the US the archipelago.
2. Treaty of Washington - Spain transferred Cagayan, Sulu, and Sibutu to the US.
3. US-Great Britain Convention - It demarcated boundary lines bet. PH and North
Borneo.

Contiguous Zone: Control is given to the States to prevent infringement of its

customs, fiscal, immigration, or sanitary laws within its territory or territorial sea.

Exclusive Economic Zone: Here, the coastal State may explore and exploit the
natural resources found within.

Regime of Islands: An Island—a naturally formed area of land, surrounded by water,

above water at high tide—shall form their own maritime space.

Article I of the 1987 Constitution reads as follows:

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 terrestrial, 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 VII, Section 21 reads:

No treaty or international agreement shall be valid and effective unless concurred
in by at least two-thirds of all the Members of the Senate.