1935 Constitution

The Philippines comprises all the territory

ceded to the United States by the Treaty of
Paris concluded between the United States and
Spain on the tenth day of December, eighteen
hundred and ninety-eight, the limits which are
set forth in Article III of said treaty, together
with all the islands embraced in the treaty
concluded at Washington between the United
States and Spain on the seventh day of
November, nineteen hundred, and the treaty
concluded between the United States and
Great Britain on the second day of January,
nineteen hundred and thirty, and all territory
over which the present Government of the
Philippine Islands exercises jurisdiction.

1973 Constitution
The national territory comprises the Philippine
archipelago, with all the islands and waters
embraced therein, and all the other territories
belonging to the Philippines by historic right or
legal title, including the territorial sea, the
airspace, the subsoil, the seabed, the insular
shelves and the other submarine areas over
which the Philippines has sovereignty or
jurisdiction. The waters around, between and
connecting the islands of the archipelago,
irrespective or their breadth and dimensions,
form part of the internal waters of the
Philippines.

1987 Constitution
The national territory comprises the
Philippine archipelago, with all the islands
and waters embraced therein, and all the
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.

RA 5446 (1968 Baseline Law)

The definition of the baselines of
the territorial sea of the Philippine
Archipelago as provided in this Act
without
prejudice
to
the
delineation of the baselines of the
territorial sea around the territory
of
Sabah,
over
which
the
Philippines has acquired dominion
and sovereignty.

Old Philippine Baseline Law

Republic Act No. 3046, An Act to Define the Baselines of
the Territorial Sea of the Philippines (17 June 1961), as
amended by Republic Act No. 5446, An Act to Define the
Baselines of the Territorial Sea of the Philippines (18
September 1968)
All the waters around, between and connecting the various
islands of the Philippine archipelago, irrespective of their
width or dimension [are] necessary appurtenances of the
land territory, forming part of the inland or internal waters
of the Philippines.
In addition, all the waters beyond the outermost islands
of the archipelago, but within the limits of the Treaty of
Paris comprise the territorial sea of the Philippines.
Finally, this statute indicates that the baselines will consist
of straight lines joining appropriate points of the outermost
islands of the archipelago.

Other Relevant Marcos Issuances

Presidential
Proclamation
No.
370,
declaring as subject to the jurisdiction
and control of the Republic of the
Philippines all mineral and other natural
resources in the continental shelf. (March
20, 1968)
Presidential Decree No. 1599, establishing
an Exclusive Economic Zone and for other
purposes. (June 11, 1978)

Kalayaan Islands Group

Presidential Decree No. 1596, declaring certain part of the Philippine
territory
and providing for their government and administration. (June 11, 1978)
Whereas, by reason of their proximity the cluster of islands and islets
in the South China Sea situated within the following: Kalayaan Island
Groups are vital to the security and economic survival of the
Philippines;
Whereas, much of the above area is part of the continental margin of
the Philippine archipelago;
Whereas, these areas do not legally belong to any state or nation but,
by reason of history, indispensable need, and effective occupation
and control established in accordance with the international law, such
areas must now deemed to belong and subject to the sovereignty of
the Philippines;
Whereas, while other states have laid claims to some of these areas,
their claims have lapsed by abandonment and cannot prevail over
that of the Philippines on legal, historical, and equitable grounds.

RA 9522 (2008 Baseline Law)

Identical baseline with 1961 Baseline Law (RA 5446)
The Kalayaan Island Group declared as belonging and
subject to the sovereignty of the Philippines under
Presidential Decree No. 1596, and the Scarborough
Shoal, over which the Philippines exercises sovereignty
and jurisdiction, shall be considered as regime of
islands of the Republic of the Philippines under Article
121 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the
Sea (UNCLOS).
This act shall be without prejudice to Philippine dominion
and sovereignty over all portions of the national territory
as defined under Article 1 of the Constitution of the
Republic of the Philippines and by applicable law.

UNCLOS
Ratified by the Philippines in August 1983
An archipelagic state may draw straight
archipelagic baselines joining the outermost
points of the outermost islands and drying
reefs of the archipelago. (Art. 47, Sec. 1,
UNCLOS)
The drawing of such baselines shall not
depart to any appreciable extent from the
general configuration of the archipelago.
(Art. 47, Sec. 3, UNCLOS)

UNCLOS
The waters within the baselines shall be
considered internal waters;
Territorial waters 12 nautical miles from
the baselines;
Contiguous Zone 24 nautical miles from
the baselines;
Exclusive Economic Zone -miles from the baselines.

200 nautical

Magallona vs. Ermita

G.R. No. 187167, July 16, 2011
UNCLOS III and its ancillary baselines laws play no
role in the acquisition, enlargement or, as petitioners
claim, diminution of territory. Under traditional
international law typology, States acquire territory
through
occupation,
accretion,
cession
and
prescription, not by executing multilateral treaties on
the regulations of sea-use rights or enacting statutes
to comply with the treatys terms to delimit maritime
zones and continental shelves. Territorial claims to
land features are outside UNCLOS III, and are instead
governed by the rules on general international law.
UNCLOS III has nothing to do with the acquisition (or
loss) of territory. It is a multilateral treaty regulating,
among others, sea-use rights over maritime zones.