By CARMELA FONBUENA
abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak

The Former Senior Government Officials (FSGO) released Friday a statement reiterating calls for the "swift passage" of a Philippine baseline law to meet the May 13, 2009 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

The FSGO is composed of around 90 ex-officials, from the Aquino to the Arroyo administration, who are pushing for reforms and good governance.

"The May 13, 2009 deadline set for archipelagic states to pass a definitive baselines law and submit this to the United Nations (UN) under provisions of the UNCLOS is fast approaching. It is therefore time to get our act together," the FSGO said.

"The territorial integrity and the sovereignty of the Philippines are at stake. The final decision on the baselines will affect the Philippines for generations to come," the group added.

Related Stories
• FSGO: Pass a Proper Baselines Bill Pronto!

The UNCLOS is set to launch the International Seabed Authority, an international regime that will define country territories—the extent of maritime jurisdiction, the measure of the continental shelves, zones of economic development, areas of strategic importance for national security, and areas subject to resource and environmental management.

"We just want to remind Congress of the deadline," former senator Leticia Shahani told abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak in a phone interview.

Shahani, who has long advocated for a baselines law, heads the Spratlys sub-cluster of the FSGO. She was chair of the Senate committee on foreign affairs during the Aquino years.

Shahani explained, "The territory of Cebu island is not just what sticks out of the sea. Cebu ’s territory includes the waters and the continental shelves underwater....At stake is the outer limits of the Philippines from Batanes to Sulu."

Also at stake is the Philippines’ claim over the Kalayaan Group of Islands or Spratlys. Five other countries are laying claim over the potentially oil-rich island group—-Malaysia, Taiwan, China, Brunei, and Vietnam .

Maximizing the Opportunity

A baselines law is not required by the UNCLOS to define national territories. But it’s an opportunity that the Philippines should maximize, Shahani said.

"The UNCLOS gives signatory states the freedom to place within its maritime boundaries all waters and the islands and islets embraced therein, as well as to determine its Extended Continental Shelf based on these boundaries. It is high time we maximize the options provided by the UNCLOS as the May 2009 deadline approaches," the FSGO said.

"They are giving us a chance to measure our national territory. This is very important," Shahani said.

"As we speak, as we debate the merits and demerits of the various options in determining the scope and breadth of our baselines, other island and archipelagic countries are conducting technical surveys to determine their maritime baselines, especially their Extended Continental Shelf (ECS) based on criteria of UNCLOS article 76 (prior to the submission of their official baselines claims at the UN). Why are they moving on defining their baselines by the set deadline, and why are we stagnant?," the FSGO said.

According to Shahani, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, Australia and many other countries have defined their baselines. The UNCLOS was formed in the late eighties. Almost three decades later, the Philippines has yet to define its baselines.

Experts also believe that a baselines bill will strengthen the country’s claim over the Kalayaan group of Islands because it will show its unquestionable proximity to the province of Palawan.

Follow UNCLOS Guidelines

The FSGO emphasized that the country’s baselines law should reflect "the true historical borders and the maritime boundaries that respect provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)."

"As signatories to UNCLOS, it is our duty within the realms of international law to abide by its provisions while maintaining our sovereignty, while upholding historical claims with regard to our national territory, and while respecting other bilateral and multilateral agreements that affect claims to maritime territories," the FSGO said.

"In the mapping of our baselines, history will remind us that the Philippines is no mere signatory to UNCLOS. It was the Philippine representatives to the Convention who proposed the concept of the archipelagic doctrine; evolved it, defended it, and had it accepted by the conference," the FSGO said.

Last year, the Office of Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita in Malacañang protested a baselines bill in the House of Representatives that already passed third reading in the committee, fearing it violates UNCLOS guidelines by including the disputed territories in the Kalayaan Group of Islands .

On the suspicion that the bill was derailed to accommodate China, also a claimant of the Kalayaan Group of Islands, the FSGO looked down on this move, emphasizing that the passage of a baselines bill should be a unilateral declaration.

"Let neither issues of corruption, such as the ZTE-NBN deal, nor joint undertakings with questionable constitutionality, such as the JMSU, derail the passage of this most historic piece of legislation," FSGO said.

"As this issue has gotten rolling in the legislative branch of government, let the legislative mill take its course and let it not be hampered at this late hour by last-minute executive monkey-wrenches, highly-partisan wrangling, nor by informal communiqué from foreign governments," the FSGO said.

The FSGO earlier took a stand supporting a House Bill 3216, a bill that defined the country’s baselines. "Does the House bill follow the UNCLOS guidelines? The committee thinks the bill follows the rules of UNCLOS. Nobody is an expert on maritime laws," Shahani said.

"Our position is: Kung may kakulangan (if it's still not enough), let’s negotiate it later," Shahani said.