Last June 14, 2024 DFA Assistant Secretary for Maritime and Ocean Affairs Marshall Louis Alferez and Philippine Permanent Representative to the UN in New York Ambassador Antonio Lagdameo submitted to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf the Philippines' registration of its extended continental shelf in the Western Palawan region in the WPS.
The DFA said the submission was made at the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) through the Philippine Mission to the UN in New York.
This is the second time the Philippines registered an ECS entitlement. In 2012, the CLCS validated its partial submission on the Philippine Rise (Benham Rise), resulting in an additional 135,506 square kilometers of seabed area for the country.
We note that these submissions are necessary for the Philippines' declaration of its maritime entitlements under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and as a way to show our commitment to the responsible application of its processes.
This would also help secure the Philippines’ sovereign rights and maritime jurisdictions in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), Alferez said, noting that the 2016 Arbitral Ruling confirmed the country’s maritime entitlements and rejected those that exceeded geographic and substantive limits under UNCLOS.
“The seabed and the subsoil extending from our archipelago up to the maximum extent allowed by UNCLOS hold significant potential resources that will benefit our nation and our people for generations to come. Today, we secure our future by making a manifestation of our exclusive right to explore and exploit natural resources in our ECS entitlement,” the DFA said.
Alferez clarified that the submission does not prejudice discussions with relevant coastal States that may have legitimate ECS claims measured from their respective lawful baselines under UNCLOS.
It is just as well that Alferez mentioned this, because the Philippine submission has just elicited a vehement objection from Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur's rejection of the claim is based on the PH submission that is projected from the baselines of Sabah, a state that Malaysia considers an indisputable part of its sovereign territory.
In a strongly-worded note verbale to UN Secretary-General António Guterres on June 27, Malaysian diplomats stated their categorical rejection of the Philippines’ Partial Submission to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS). They said that the submission disregards Malaysia’s sovereignty over Sabah, which has been recognized by the UN and the international community since the formation of the Federation of Malaysia in 1963.
“The Government of Malaysia categorically rejects the Philippines’ Partial Submission on the basis that the Republic of the Philippines’ continental margin is projected from the baselines of the Malaysian state of Sabah. This clearly disregards Malaysia’s indisputable sovereignty over the state of Sabah,” the mission asserted.
Malaysia further contended that the Philippines’ claim to sovereignty over Sabah is “incompatible with its erga omnes obligation to recognize and uphold the legitimate exercise of the right to self-determination by the people of Sabah in 1963.” The mission unequivocally declared, “It is clear that the Republic of the Philippines claim to Sabah has no basis whatsoever under international law.”
With this UN continental shelf submission, it looks like the DFA has created another problem where there is none, and relations with Malaysia, a co-ASEAN member, may again be jeopardized because of the Sabah question. We do not need another flashpoint in the South China Sea.
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