Manila: The Philippines has officially presented its partial submission on its extended continental shelf (ECS) in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) before the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS), the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Wednesday said. The country's submission, covering the West Palawan Region, is the second of its kind for an ECS entitlement following its 2009 partial submission on the Philippine Rise.
According to Philippines News Agency, Foreign Affairs spokesperson for Maritime Affairs Rogelio Villanueva Jr., who is part of the delegation that presented the submission, described it as a 'demonstration of the Philippines' steadfast commitment to the United Nations Charter and the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS),' and as a sign of trust in a rules-based maritime order. 'The presentation further underscored that the submission was part of the country's responsibility to secure a peaceful South China Sea through the rule of law in order to sustain the livelihoods of Filipinos, foster trade, protect marine biodiversity, and unite coastal and littoral States,' the DFA said on Wednesday.
The Philippines made its submission in 2024, pursuant to Article 76 of UNCLOS, which provides that a coastal state, such as the Philippines, is entitled to establish the outer limits of its continental shelf. This comprises the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas extending beyond 200 nautical miles (NM), but not to exceed 350 NM from the baselines, from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured.
The National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA) led the Extended Continental Shelf Technical Working Group (ECS-TWG) in preparing the submission over a 15-year period. Heading the Philippine delegation that presented the submission to UN CLCS was Philippine Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Enrique Manalo.
Comprising the rest of the delegation is the ECS-TWG, led by NAMRIA Administrator Undersecretary Peter Tiangco, and composed of officials from the DFA, Department of Justice, Office of Solicitor General and NAMRIA, and academic experts from the University of the Philippines. During the presentation, the Philippines requested the CLCS to consider relevant rulings made by tribunals duly constituted under the 1982 UNCLOS, such as the 2016 South China Sea Arbitral Award, which have authoritatively determined the maritime entitlements of littoral States in the South China Sea.
In April 2009, the Philippines made a partial submission on the Philippine Rise, which the CLCS validated in 2012, resulting in an additional 135,506 square kilometers of seabed area for the Philippines. In that submission, the Philippines stated that it reserved the right to make submissions in other areas in the future.
