The Philippines has formally asked the United Nations to register its extended continental shelf (ECS) in the Western Palawan region in the West Philippine Sea, the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Saturday.
DFA Assistant Secretary for Maritime and Ocean Affairs Marshall Louis Alferez said the submission is a declaration not only of the Philippines’ maritime entitlements under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) but also of Manila’s commitment to the responsible application of its processes.
“Incidents in the waters tend to overshadow the importance of what lies beneath,” he said.
“The seabed and the subsoil extending from our archipelago up to the maximum extent allowed by UNCLOS hold significant potential resources that will benefit our nation and our people for generations to come. Today, we secure our future by making a manifestation of our exclusive right to explore and exploit natural resources in our ECS entitlement.”
Alferez said the submission would also help secure the Philippines’ sovereign rights and maritime jurisdictions in the West Philippine Sea, noting that the 2016 Arbitral Ruling confirmed the country’s maritime entitlements and rejected those that exceeded geographic and substantive limits under UNCLOS.
The submission of information at the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) was made through the Philippine Mission to the UN in New York.
This is the second time the Philippines has registered an ECS entitlement.
In 2012, the CLCS validated its partial submission on the Philippine Rise, resulting in an additional 135,506 square kilometers of seabed area for the country.
Alferez clarified the submission does not prejudice discussions with relevant coastal states that may have legitimate ECS claims measured from their respective lawful baselines under UNCLOS.
“We consider our submission as a step in discussing delimitation matters and other forms of cooperation moving forward. What is important is the Philippines puts on record the maximum extent of our entitlement,” he said.
Under Article 76 of the UNCLOS, a coastal State such as the Philippines is entitled to establish the outer limits of its continental shelf comprising the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas extending beyond 200 nautical miles (NM) but not to exceed 350 NM from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured.
Editor’s Note: This is an updated article. Originally posted with the headline: “Philippines submits claim to UN for extended continental shelf in WPS”