ARTICLE I – NATIONAL TERRITORY
Hector S. De Leon and Hector M. De Leon, Jr. | Textbook on the (1987) Philippine Constitution
SECTION 1: 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.
Necessity of constitutional provision on National Territory
The Constitution begins with a delimitation of our national
territory.
1) Binding force of such provision under
international law
a. There is no rule in international law which
requires a State to define its territorial
boundaries in its Constitution (With or without
such a provision, a state under international
law has the unquestioned right to assert
jurisdiction throughout the extent of its
territory)
b. The delimitation is not binding upon other
States who are not precluded from claiming
title to territories which they think is theirs (A
constitution is not international law but only a
state law; as such, it is binding only on the
state promulgating it)
c. Territorial disputes have to be settled
according to the rules of international law
2) Value of provision defining our national territory
a. The Philippines must define as precisely as
possible our national territory for the purpose
of making known to the world the areas over
which we assert title or ownership to avoid
future conflicts with other nations
b. As a sovereign State, the Philippines can
promulgate and enforce laws within our
country
c. Every other power is excluded from
exercising dominion or jurisdiction without the
consent of the Philippines
d. International law recognizes the supreme
authority of every state within its territory,
although foreign sovereigns and diplomatic
envoys are entitled to exemption from local
civil and criminal jurisdiction
e. Every Filipino citizen, however, whether he is
inside or outside the country, is subject to the
personal jurisdiction of the Philippines. Thus,
he can be made subject to Philippine income
tax
3) Acquisition of other territories
a. Incidentally, the definition of our national
territory in our Constitution does not prevent
the Philippines from acquiring other territories
in the future through any for the means (e.g.,
purchase, exchange, etc.) sanctioned by
international law
National Territory of the Philippines
As provided in Article I, it comprises:
1) The Philippine archipelago with all the islands
(Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao) and waters embraced
therein;
2) All other territories over which the Philippines has
sovereignty or jurisdiction (Actual exercise of
sovereignty is not essential to the acquisition or
retention of sovereignty rights over a territory);
Dex Marco Tiu Guibelondo, BS Pharmacy, RPh, BS Computer Engineering – IV
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ARTICLE I – NATIONAL TERRITORY
Hector S. De Leon and Hector M. De Leon, Jr. | Textbook on the (1987) Philippine Constitution
3) The territorial, fluvial and aerial domains including
the territorial sea, the seabed, the subsoil, the
insular shelves, and other submarine areas
thereof; and
4) The internal waters.
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2)
Meaning of archipelago

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
Greek word pelagos, “sea”
Definitions:
o A sea or part of a sea studded with islands
o (synonymous with) Island groups
o Large group of islands in an extensive body
of water, such as sea
An archipelago, therefore, includes both sea and
islands which geographically may be considered as an
independent whole.
3)
4)
Other territories over which the Philippines has sovereignty
or jurisdiction
1) Pending Philippine claim to Sabah, etc.
 Sabah (formerly North Borneo)
vs.
Malaysia
 Freedomland (a group of islands known as
“Spratley” islands in the South China Sea)
 Marianas Islands (including Guam)
2) Future claims by the Philippines to other areas
 The deletion, however, of the words “by
historic right or legal title” is not to be
construed as precluding future claims by the
Philippines to areas over which it does not
actually exercise sovereignty.
 The change is designed to improve our
relations with Malaysia while allowing
flexibility in pursuing the Sabah claim if it
desires to do so.
5)
Belt of water outside and parallel to the
coastline or the outer limits of the inland or
internal waters
The seabed (or sea floor or sea bottom)
 The land that holds the sea, lying beyond the
seashore, including mineral and natural
resources
The subsoil
 Everything beneath the surface soil and the
seabed, including mineral and natural
resources
Insular shelves (or continental shelves)
 Submerged portions of a continent or offshore
island, which slope gently seaward from the
low waterline to a point where a substantial
break in grade occurs, at which point the
bottom slopes seaward at a considerable
increase in slope until the great ocean depths
are reached; and
Other submarine areas
 All areas under the territorial sea including
seamount, trough, trench, basin, deep, bank,
shoal, and reef
As part of the national territory, the seabed, the insular shelves,
and other submarine areas are necessarily co-extensive with
the territorial sea. The Philippines has a right or title to them to
the extent recognized by international law.
Other areas included in the Philippine archipelago
The Philippine territory consists of its terrestrial, fluvial, and
aerial domains. Included in its fluvial domains, in addition to the
external waters, are:
1) The territorial sea (or marginal sea, marginal belt,
marine belt)
 Part of the sea extending 12 nautical miles
(19 kilometers) from the low-watermark
Dex Marco Tiu Guibelondo, BS Pharmacy, RPh, BS Computer Engineering – IV
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ARTICLE I – NATIONAL TERRITORY
Hector S. De Leon and Hector M. De Leon, Jr. | Textbook on the (1987) Philippine Constitution
Three-(3)-fold division of navigable waters
From the standpoint of international law, the waters of the
Philippines are divided into:
1) Inland waters (or internal waters or national waters)
 Parts of the sea within the land territory
 Considered in the same light as rivers, canals,
and lakes within the land territory of a state.
2) Territorial sea (or marginal sea, marginal belt, marine
belt)
 Part of the sea extending 12 nautical miles
(19 kilometers) from the low-watermark
 Belt of water outside and parallel to the
coastline or the outer limits of the inland or
internal waters
3) High seas (or open seas)
 Waters that lie seaward of the territorial sea
Jurisdiction over navigable waters
The inland or internal waters and the territorial sea together
comprise what is generally known as the territorial waters of a
state. Over these waters, a state exercises sovereignty to the
same extent as its land territory but foreign vessels have the
right of innocent passage through the territorial sea.
On the other hand, the open seas are international waters
which means that they are not subject to the sovereignty of any
state but every state has equal right of use in them.
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Presidential Decree No. 1599 (June 11, 1978)
o Establishes an exclusive economic zone
(EEZ) of the Philippines extending to a
distance of 200 nautical miles beyond and
from the baselines from which the territorial
sea is measured
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
(UNCLOS)
o Asked all involved countries to map out their
200 nautical mile EEZ from 1999 to May 13,
2019 or else they would lose exclusivity in the
exploitation of marine resources
o The Philippines, being an archipelago, has to
update by legislation its 200 nautical mile EEZ
and the extent of its extended continental
shelf (ECS) to conform to some provisions of
the UNCLOS defining new archipelagic
baselines.
Incidentally, EEZ does not mean sovereign
ownership, but only sovereign rights to
explore and exploit the same, such as for oil.
Republic Act No. 3046 (as amended by RA No. 5446)
o Set the baselines of the Philippines
May
o Philippine Month of the Oceans; celebrated
each year to remind us that our oceans were
created to sustain life
o
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The archipelagic concept or principle of territoriality
The use of the word “archipelago” in Article I is intended to
project the idea that the Philippines is an archipelago (a state
composed of a number of islands) and bolster the archipelagic
concept (or archipelago doctrine) which the Philippines,
together with Indonesia and other archipelago states, had
espoused in international conferences on the Law of the Sea.
By this concept is meant that an archipelago shall be regarded
as single unit, so that the waters around, between and
connecting the islands of the archipelago, irrespective of their
breadth and dimensions, form part of the internal waters of the
state, subject to its exclusive sovereignty.
The Philippine position
The archipelago theory is in reality an exception to the three (3)mile rule (now 12-mile rule). This rule does not adequately
protect Philippine interests at all.
1) Fatal effect of application of 12-mile rule upon
territorial integrity of the Philippines
 It would mean the dismemberment of the
archipelago with the Sibuyan Sea separating
the Visayas, and the Mindanao Strait and the
Sulu isolating Palawan from the rest of the
archipelago.
 These and other areas of waters would cease
to be Philippine waters; they would become
international waters or high seas…
 At the same time, we would lose a large part
of our territory on both sides of the
archipelago, towards the China Sea and the
Pacific Ocean.
2) The Philippines, a single nation and a united State
 To suggest that each island has its own
territorial sea and that base lines must be
drawn around each island is to splinter into
Dex Marco Tiu Guibelondo, BS Pharmacy, RPh, BS Computer Engineering – IV
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ARTICLE I – NATIONAL TERRITORY
Hector S. De Leon and Hector M. De Leon, Jr. | Textbook on the (1987) Philippine Constitution
7,000 pieces what is a single nation and a
united state.
 One need only imagine a map of the
Philippines with territorial seas around each
island and with pockets of high seas in
between islands to realize the absurdity of the
resulting situation.
3) Archipelago principle fully recognized by UN Law
of the Sea Convention
 A 12-mile breadth of the territorial sea would
not be acceptable to the Philippines as it
would still result in having some pockets
within the sea between some islands which
would be considered international waters.
 The archipelago principle and the exclusive
economic zone rights are now fully
recognized in the U.N. Law of the Sea
Convention and, therefore, form part of public
international law. It was ratified by the interim
Batasang Pambansa on February 27, 1984.
Dex Marco Tiu Guibelondo, BS Pharmacy, RPh, BS Computer Engineering – IV
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