ARTICLE I

NATIONAL TERRITORY
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.

Philippine Archipelago:
1. Treaty of Paris, December 10 1898 – cessation of the Philippine Islands by Spain to the United States
2. Treaty of Washington November 7 1900 – clarifying territories to the US by Spain, particularly the islands of
Cagayan Sulu and Sibutu.
3. Convention between US and Great Britain 1930– delimiting the boundary between North Borneo and Philippine
Archipelago

What comprises the National Territory?

1. The Philippine Archipelago with all the islands embraced therein
2. All other territories over which the Philippines has sovereignty or jurisdiction

1. The Philippine Archipelago with all the islands embraced therein

Archipelago - under the UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea), it is a group of islands,
interconnecting waters and other natural features which are so closely inter-related that such islands, waters and
natural features from an intrinsic geographical, economic and political entity, or which historically regarded as
such.

2 Elements of Archipelagic Principle

1.Definition of internal waters
2. Straight baseline method of delineating the territorial sea
o Straight Baseline Method - allows a country with offshore islands and/or very jagged
coastlines to calculate its territorial seas from straight lines drawn from a point on the coast to the islands,
or from island to island. One then “connects the dots” literally, and the water behind the lines is
designated internal waters, while waters away from the line and toward open waters are considered
territorial seas

2. All other territories over which the Philippines has sovereignty or jurisdiction
• Includes any territory that presently belongs or might in the future belong to the Philippines through any of the
accepted international modes of acquiring territory.
• Batanes (1935 Constitution)
• Other territories belonging to the Philippines by historic or legal title (1973 Constitution)
o Claim to Sabah
o Spratly Islands (PD 1596 of June 11 1968)

Components of National Territory:

I. Terrestrial – refers to the land mass, which may be integrate or dismembered, or partly bound by water or
consists of one whole island. It includes all the resources attached to the land.

II. Fluvial
a. Internal waters - the waters around, between and connecting the islands of the archipelago, regardless of their
breadth and dimensions.
b. Archipelagic waters – waters enclosed by the archipelagic baselines, regardless of their depth or distance from the
coast.
Archipelagic State – state made up of one or two archipelagos
 Straight Archipelagic Baseline – determine the archipelagic waters, the state shall draw straight
baselines connecting the outermost points of the outermost islands and drying reef provided that within
such baselines are included the main islands and an area in which the ratio of the water to the area of
land, including atolls, is between 1:1 and 9:1. The length of such baselines shall not exceed 100 nautical
miles, except that up to 3 per cent of the total number of baselines enclosing any archipelago may exceed
that length, up to a maximum length of 125 nautical miles. The drawing of such baselines shall not depart
to any appreciable extent from the general configuration of the archipelago.

c. Territorial sea - belt of the sea located between the coast and internal waters of the coastal state on the one hand,
and the high seas on the other, extending up to 12 nautical miles from the low water mark
d. Contiguous zone - Extends up to 12 nautical miles from the territorial sea. Although not part of the territory, the
coastal State may exercise jurisdiction to prevent infringement of customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws.

Principle of Innocent Passage – guarantees that all vessels, whatever flag that they are flying, can freely
cross all territorial seas.

e. Exclusive economic zone - Body of water extending up to 200 nautical miles, within which the state may exercise
sovereign rights to explore, exploit, conserve and manage the natural resources.
f. Continental shelf – the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas extending beyond the Philippine territorial sea.
g. High seas – res communes; not territory of any particular State. They are beyond the jurisdiction and sovereign
rights of the State.

III. Aerial – Rules governing the high seas also apply to outer space, which is considered as res communes.
Kármán Line – lies an altitude of 100 km (62 mi) above the Earth's sea level and is commonly define the
boundary between the Earth's atmosphere and outer space.