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The congressional bicameral conference committee on Wednesday approved the proposed Maritime Zones Bill, which specifies the rights and entitlements of Filipinos over the country’s maritime zones.
“It’s okay now and it’s now for the President’s signature,” Sen. Francis Tolentino, the principal sponsor of the measure in the Senate, said of conflicting provisions in Senate Bill No. 2492 and House Bill No. 7819.
“We have included Palawan, we have included the Philippine Rise. Then we reconciled the provisions on internal waters and the archipelagic waters, which is legal and technical,” Tolentino added.
The House of Representatives passed its version last year while the Senate passed its own in February, but the House recalled the bill in May for further refinement.
Tolentino earlier described the proposed measure as a landmark legislation that establishes the Philippine maritime zones, in compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) and the 2016 arbitral ruling, which upheld the Philippines’ sovereign right to fish and explore resources within its exclusive economic zones.
