They still can’t agree how they will draw the Philippines’ baselines but after a two-hour executive session in the Senate Thursday, both Senator Miriam Santiago and Cebu Rep. Antonio Cuenco came out confident that Congress will be able to pass a law before the May 2009 deadline of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

"We agreed that the Philippines must meet the deadline by May, and that we shall draw our baselines pursuant to the archipelagic doctrine in the UNCLOS," Santiago told reporters after the hearing.

"I’m very optimistic, before Christmas, we’ll have the bill signed by the President so that we can send it already to the UNCLOS," Cuenco also told abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak.

Last month, reform group Former Senior Government officials (FSGO)—a group of nearly a hundred former Cabinet officials—urged Congress to pass a baselines law and meet the UNCLOS deadline.

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

While a baselines law is not a requirement of the UNCLOS, experts believe that Philippines’ submission of this law will strengthen the country's claim to the potentially oil-rich Kalayaan Group of Islands (KIG), which is disputed by six countries—Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, China, Brunei, and Vietnam.

Experts say a baselines law will show that the Philippines’ Palawan province is the closest to the disputed group of islands and islets.

Old Debates

The House version of the baselines bill includes the Kalayaan Group of Islands and the Scarborough Shoal, which is disputed by the Philippines, China, Taiwan. The bill would have been scheduled for approval on third reading but was blocked by Malacanang.

The Office of the President’s Maritime and Ocean Affairs, headed by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, questioned the inclusion of the disputed islands and shoal.

The Senate has yet to consolidate the baseline bills filed in Senate foreign relations committee headed by Santiago. But Santiago assured it will only take about two weeks to do it.

Unlike the House version, the Senate version will likely follow the recommendations of Ermita’s office. Santiago told reporters the consolidation of the Senate bills will be coordinated with Ermita’s office.

"We will not include them inside our baselines but we will declare them as our regime of islands, which we are allowed to do," Santiago said.

Santiago maintained that the Philippines will not lose its claim over the islands even if it is not going to be defined as such in the Philippine baselines law that will be passed by Congress.

"We will not lose our claim over this, whether we enclose them inside the baselines or treat them outside the islands as a regime of islands. We do not lose our claim any way," she said.

Santiago said the draft of the Senate version of the baseline bill will also be given to former Solicitor-General Estelito Mendoza for his inputs.

"He is the only survivor of the Philippine delegation to the UNCLOS," Santiago said.

Since several senators earlier supported the House version of the baselines bill, this might make it difficult to get majority support in the Senate. But Santiago said, "it’s just a question of explaining it to the senators."

House Willing to Adjust

Cuenco said the House will no longer touch their version of the bill. "The House position on this bill remains the same. We still maintain that the Kalayaan Group of Islands and Scarborough Shoal be included in our baselines. We will not change it," he said.

But the House is willing to amend its bill during the bicameral conference committee meetings when both chambers renoncile their versions of the baseline bill, he said.

"Since legislation is the art of the possible, if the Senate has another version, we will try to make adjustments during the bicameral conference committee. The House is willing to meet with the Senate anytime," he said.

Cuenco said while the passage of the House version of the baseline bill is just a matter of "formality," the House will pass its version on third and final reading "as soon as we know what the Senate version is."

"It’s the call of the Speaker," he said referring to administration ally Davao Rep. Prospero Nograles. "The House speaker is also biding his time, trying to smoothen relations with Malacanang. Malacanang is blocking the bill." (abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak)

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