ARROYO LAW UPHOLDS CLAIM ON SPRATLYS - SC / P-NOY CHINA VISIT SET, AUG 30
[Former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo]
MANILA, AUGUST 19, 2011 (STANDARD) by Rey Requejo - The Supreme Court on Tuesday affirmed the constitutionality of Republic Act 9522 or the Baselines Law signed by then President Gloria Macapagal–Arroyo in 2009, saying that the Philippine archipelago as defined in the Constitution remains the same under RA 9522.
In a unanimous en banc decision, the court dismissed for lack of merit the petition filed by international law experts Merlin Magallona and Harry Roque Jr. who sought to block RA 9522 on the ground that it would weaken the country's claim over the Spratly group of islands including Kalayaan.
Chief Justice Renato Corona disclosed that the court was unanimous in saying that RA 9522 did not violate or revise the definition of the Philippine archipelago under the constitution.
The en banc ruling, penned by Senior Justice Antonio Carpio, rejected the contention of Magallona and Roque, who are both professors of UP College of Law, that the law had radically revised the definition of the Philippine archipelago, resulting in the loss of at least 15,000 square nautical miles of territorial waters.
The high tribunal took side with the Office of Solicitor General that the Philippine archipelago as defined in the constitution remains the same under the new Baselines Law.
The tribunal also pointed out that R.A. 9522 could no longer be stopped since it was immediately forwarded to the United Nations through the UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea.
The OSG had alleged that petitioners "have misread the law, or worse, have read into the law provisions which are not there." It claimed that the petition was based on a "course work" of UP law students who reviewed the new law.
In their April 1, 2009 petition, Roque and Magallona stressed that the law also converted the country's internal waters into "archipelagic waters" through standards under the United Nations Law of the Sea that use the straight baselines method in delineating the national territory.
UNCLOS mandates that states can exercise the rights of innocent passage and archipelagic sealanes passage over archipelagic waters.
This means that foreign ships including nuclear-powered ships and other ships carrying weapons-grade nuclear substances and even aircrafts of all kinds can pass through and over archipelagic waters in a continuous, expeditious, and unobstructed manner.
Petitioners also said that the law threatens the Filipino people's right to a healthful ecology as it allows foreign ships of all kinds, including those that carry nuclear and other dangerous substances to pass through Philippine waters without obstruction.
They said R.A. 9522 declared the Kalayaan island group and Scarborough Shoal, which are part of the contested Spratlys in the West Philippine Sea, as mere regimes of islands, which is an admission that they are not part of the Philippines archipelago and are far and distant from the mainland of Palawan.
The high court did not buy these arguments and instead upheld the stand of the government that R.A. 9522 is constitutional.
MANILA BULLETIN
Aquino sets China visit By ROY C. MABASA August 17, 2011, 6:25pm
MANILA, Philippines — A journey to the province where his family has roots is one of the highlights of the President Benigno S. Aquino III's first state visit to the People's Republic of China.
President Aquino will leave Manila for Beijing on August 30 to meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao, Malacañang sources said. He will stay in the Chinese capital until September 1.
From Beijing, the President will proceed to Shanghai, and on September 2 he will visit Fujian province where the Cojuangcos come from.
Jose Cojuangco, Aquino's great-grandfather, was the son of a Chinese immigrant from Fujian.
The President is scheduled to return to Manila on September 3.
The Chinese embassy said the agreements that will be signed during President Aquino's visit were still being initialized.
The sensitive issue of the contested areas in the West Philippine Sea could be one of the topics up for discussion during the visit.
Aquino will be accompanied by senior foreign and defense officials, underscoring the importance the Philippine government has placed on the trip.
The visit was arranged as early as March amid the outrage in the country over Beijing's execution of three Filipino drug convicts.
President Hu formally invited Aquino during last year's Leaders' Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Aquino himself confirmed earlier that an invitation from the Chinese government had been sent to him.
In an earlier interview, Chinese Ambassador to Manila Liu Jianchao said Chinese officials were open to discussing with President Aquino the Spratlys issue during his visit.
"Everything can be talked about, but we can talk about issues in a very good faith and goodwill, in a spirit of seeking well-measured settlement of these issues. More than this we can work ways to maintain peace and stability in the region where we have disputes," Liu told the Manila Bulletin.
"I'm sure we have the wisdom to keep peace and stability in this region and at the same time both of us could benefit from such a stable and peaceful region," he added. "In particular, we can cooperate in this region in exploring and developing the resources. This is going to be a wonderful arrangement and at the same time we can reduce the possibility for a possible conflict. So, this is going to be a wonderful one."
Liu also welcomed the visit, pointing out that this will further promote "the wonderful relations between the two countries in many realms: in political confidence and trust, economic cooperation, trade, and people to people exchanges."
Last month, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario visited China to help prepare for the President's state visit.
Del Rosario met with Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, the presumed successor of President Hu, during his two-day official visit to China last July 7 and 8.
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Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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