Laws & Jurisprudence
ARCHIPELAGIC DOCTRINE
8:09 PM
It is defined as all waters, around between and connecting different islands belonging to the Philippine Archipelago, irrespective of their width or dimension, are necessary appurtenances of its land territory, forming an integral part of the national or inland waters, subject to the exclusive sovereignty of the Philippines. It is found in the 2nd sentence of Article 1 of the 1987 Constitution.
It emphasizes the unity of the land and waters by defining an archipelago as group of islands surrounded by waters or a body of waters studded with islands.
To emphasize unity, an imaginary single baseline is drawn around the islands by joining appropriate points of the outermost islands of the archipelago with straight lines and all islands and waters enclosed within the baseline form part of its territory.
The main purpose of the archipelagic doctrine is to protect the territorial interests of an archipelago, that is, the territorial integrity of the archipelago. Without it, there would be “pockets of high seas” between some of our islands and islets, thus foreign vessels would be able to pass through these “pockets of seas” and would have no jurisdiction over them. Accordingly, if we follow the old rule of international law, it is possible that between islands, e.g. Bohol and Siquijor, due to the more than 24 mile distance between the 2 islands, there may be high seas. Thus, foreign vessels may just enter anytime at will, posing danger to the security of the State. However, applying the doctrine, even these bodies of water within the baseline, regardless of breadth, form part of the archipelago and are thus considered as internal waters.
Following the Archipelagic Doctrine, the Spratlys Group of Islands is not part of Philippine archipelago. It is too far to be included within the archipelagic lines encircling the internal waters of Philippine Archipelago. However, the SGI is part of the Philippine territory because it was discovered by a Filipino seaman in the name of Vice‐Admiral Cloma who later renounced his claim over it in favor of the Republic of the Philippines. Subsequently, then Pres. Marcos issued a Presidential Decree constituting SGI as part of the Philippine territory and sending some of our armed forces to protect said island and maintain our sovereignty over it.
Moreover, Spratlys group of Islands is considered as part of our National Territory. Article I of the Constitution provides: “The national territory comprises the Philippine archipelago, x x x, and all other territories over which the Philippines has sovereignty or jurisdiction, x x x.” The Spratlys Group of islands falls under the second phrase “and all other territories over which the Philippines has sovereignty or jurisdiction”. It is part of our national territory because Philippines exercise sovereignty (through election of public officials) over Spratlys Group of Islands
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