Jauhn Etienne Villaruel

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), Japan Coast Guard (JCG), and U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) conduct trilateral maritime exercises for the first time off the coast of Mariveles, Bataan on June 6, 2023. The trilateral agreement between the coast guard agencies aims to enhance each of their capabilities and interoperability in securing the Indo-Pacific region. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News

Article (news)

Coast Guards' Trilateral Maritime Exercises

Harlene Delgado

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/177502101534020230606-pcg-trilateral-maritime-exercises-MD-12.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), Japan Coast Guard (JCG), and U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) conduct trilateral maritime exercises for the first time off the coast of Mariveles, Bataan on June 6, 2023. The trilateral agreement between the coast guard agencies aims to enhance each of their capabilities and interoperability in securing the Indo-Pacific region. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News</span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><p>MANILA —  A petition was filed before the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of two laws defining the country’s maritime zones and establishing archipelagic sea lanes in Philippine archipelagic waters.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/11/8/philippine-maritime-zones-act-at-archipelagic-sea-lanes-act-ganap-nang-mga-batas-1936">Philippine Maritime Zones Act at Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act, ganap nang mga batas</a></div><p>Former University of the Philippines law professor Peter Payoyo filed a Petition for Certiorari and Prohibition before the High Court in a bid to declare unconstitutional and void Republic Act No. 12064 or the Philippine Maritime Zones Act and Republic Act No. 12065 also known as the Philippine Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act.</p><p>President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed both measures into law on November 7, 2024.</p><p>Payoyo claimed that the two &quot;intertwined laws&quot; violated Article I of the 1987 Constitution which states that “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.”</p><p>This constitutional provision, Payoyo argued, establishes &quot;by way of authoritative definition&quot; the nature and scope of &quot;internal waters&quot; of the Philippine archipelago.</p><p>“Inasmuch as ‘the waters around, between, and connecting the islands of the archipelago’ are ‘internal waters’, no branch, agency or instrumentality of government may alter the legal character and the normative status of these waters,&quot; he said.  </p><p>He claimed that the two laws intend to accomplish &quot;re-defining&quot; or &quot;transforming&quot; the phrase &quot;the waters around, between, and connecting the islands of the archipelago&quot; into &quot;archipelagic waters,&quot; which he believes &quot;unequivocally and categorically violates the injunction laid down in Article I of the Constitution.&quot;</p><p>The petition also seeks to &quot;uphold the Archipelagic Principle&quot; and compel government authorities to &quot;faithfully uphold&quot; the closely related archipelago doctrine “in the context of the territorial and maritime claims of the Philippines in the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea.”</p><p>“In this geographical setting, the application and enforcement of the archipelago doctrine have been uncharacteristically suppressed if not discarded, specifically by the MZA [Maritime Zones Act], leading to outcomes that are acutely inimical to the national interest and that work against the legitimate assertion of Philippine territorial integrity and sovereignty,” the petition reads.</p><p>“It will be argued that various provisions of the MZA run counter not only to the Archipelagic Principle laid down in the Constitution but also to its cognate canon, the archipelago doctrine, established under Part IV of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS),” it added.</p><p>Former Secretary Lucas Bersamin, Foreign Affairs Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro and National Mapping and Resource Information Authority Administrator Peter Tiango were named as respondents in the petition.</p><p>The petition also surmised that the Legislative Department &quot;has committed grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction in regard to the substantial alteration of the boundaries of Kalayaan local government unit without due process.&quot;</p><p>It cited Section 18 on the amendment of Section 1 of the Presidential Decree 1596 of 1978 as an “invalid mode of altering the boundaries of the Kalayaan LGU and is repugnant to Section 10, Article X of the Constitution.”</p><p>It also noted Section 3 of the Maritime Zones Act which defines &quot;regime of islands&quot; baselines, saying that “denying archipelagic status to the KIG and Scarborough Shoal is grossly inimical to Philippine sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction in the South China Sea”.</p><p>Apart from Writ of Injunction issuance to forbid respondents from further implementing the two measures, the petition also seeks to prohibit the Department of Foreign Affairs from “referring, submitting or lodging any proposal to the International Maritime Organization on the establishment and designation of archipelagic sea lanes pursuant to Sections 6 - 11 of the Archipelagic Sea Lanes law.”</p><p>It also wants to prohibit the NAMRIA from “delimiting Philippine archipelagic waters and/or Philippine internal waters as well as from crafting maps and charts thereof pursuant to Sections 4(a) and 4(b) of the Maritime Zones Law.”</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><div><strong><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JR00_IeeQX0?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span></strong><br/></div>

<p>A petition was filed before the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of two laws defining the country’s maritime zones and establishing archipelagic sea lanes in Philippine archipelagic waters.</p>

A petition was filed before the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of two laws defining the country’s maritime zones and establishing archipelagic sea lanes in Philippine archipelagic waters.

SC urged to declare unconstitutional PH maritime zones, archipelagic sea lanes laws

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SC urged to declare unconstitutional PH maritime zones, archipelagic sea lanes laws

Harlene Delgado,

ABS-CBN News

Published April 01, 2026 01:28 PM PHT

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Updated April 01, 2026 01:29 PM PHT

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Supreme Court

WPS

Maritime Zones Act

Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act

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