“I see the need to amend the Charter for the world to see what really comprises our national territory”
In my last column, I cited the need to amend the 1987 Constitution which to all intents and purposes has become jurassic with all the fast technology happening globally and therefore the Charter must be amended soon.
No Constitution is etched in stone that cannot be changed — to make the Philippines catch up with the developments globally, especially in national and even geopolitics and foreign affairs.
I see the need for amending the restrictive and repressive provisions that have made the Philippines a laggard in foreign investment.
While countries around us have opened their economies to the world, we still have provisions in the Charter which restrict foreign direct investment in the name of nationalism, an outdated ideology in a world which has become global in nature.
As we face all the challenges of 2024, the biggest challenge of all is the continuing bullying of the country in the West Philippine Sea by China asserting its territorial sovereignty on islets, shoals and reefs within our Exclusive Economic Zone which has created tension in the region.
Thus, Santa Banana, I see the opportunity for the country to define exactly what constitutes our national territory in an amended charter!
If you read what comprises our national territory in the 1987 Constitution, the definition of our national territory merely mentions that “the national territory comprises the Philippine archipelago, with all its 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 seas, 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 breath and dimensions, form part of the internal water of the Philippines.”
In other words, there is a need to clearly define, Santa Banana, what comprises our national territory, which should include our exclusive economic zone which comprises the 20 nautical miles of waters from the coastline and shoals and reefs that have been declared as part of our national territory.
It is for this reason why our Constitution should clearly define what comprises our national territory which Congress must clearly define and put in black and white in the amended charter for the world to see.
Thus when China claims what is clearly defined as our national territory, China thus has no leg to stand on claiming Panatag or Scarborough Shoal as its territory.
Clearly, Panatag or Scarborough Shoal is part and parcel of Bajo de Masinloc and within our EEZ, where our fisherfolk can fish without any interference from China.
This is also true in Ayungin (Second Thomas Shoal ) which forms part of the Spratlys, which had been claimed by the Philippines long before China came out with its Nine-Dash Line, now Ten-Dash Line, which China now claims as its own comprising almost the entire South China Sea.
It is for all these reasons why I see the need to amend the Charter for the world to see what really comprises our national territory.
What is important is that such a definition would enable our fisherfolk to fish without any hindrance by the Chinese at the West Philippine Sea.
And the clear demarcation of Philippine national territory would make China observe international laws in compliance with the United Nations Convention of the Laws of the Sea or UNCLOS.
I would say that the amendment of our national territory is more urgent and imperative than any amendment of the charter.
