MANILA, Philippines — The Senate on Monday adopted a resolution concurring in the ratification of the agreement between the Philippines and Indonesia concerning the delimitation of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) boundary.
Senate Resolution 1048, sponsored by Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Loren Legarda, was adopted with 20 affirmative votes, no negative vote, and no abstention.
The agreement determines the boundaries which delimit the overlapping Exclusive Economic Zone of the Philippines and Indonesia.
The agreement also tasks the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), as well as the Geospatial Information Agency and the Hydro-Oceanographic Office of the Indonesian Navy to determine “the actual delineation of the sea points and geodetic lines between the two countries.”
Legarda said the resolution would provide protection for Filipino fishermen who are arrested for fishing in EEZ outside the Philippines.
“The Philippines and Indonesia are both archipelagic states. Part V of UNCLOS gave parties entitlements to a 200 Nautical Mile Exclusive Economic Zone to be used for utilization of living and non-living resources. However, the Philippines and Indonesia have overlapping EEZs in Mindanao Sea and Celebes Sea and in the southern section of the Philippine Sea in the Pacific Ocean,” Legarda said in her sponsorship speech last May 28.
“Under Article 74 of UNCLOS, the delimitation or division of the overlapping EEZ of opposite states shall be settled by an agreement on the basis of international law, as referred to in Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, in order to achieve an equitable solution,” she added.
The resolution was adopted amid the calls of Senate President Vicente Sotto III to immediately resolve the cases of the Filipino fishermen detained in Indonesia. (Editor: Eden Estopace)