Updated: Dehydrated Lozada rushed to hospital. Update: Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said Lorredo’s remarks are “extraneous” and that he should stick to the merits of…
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Updated: Dehydrated Lozada rushed to hospital. Update: Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said Lorredo’s remarks are “extraneous” and that he should stick to the merits of…
by Chit Estela VERA Files On the long black granite wall on the grounds of the Bantayog ng mga Bayani are 185 names of heroes…
by Germelina Lacorte VERA Files Retired Army general Jovito Palparan will be reinventing himself as a party-list representative in Congress, but his legacy of anti-communist…
by Tessa Jamandre
VERA Files
THE Philippines has filed before the United Nations a claim over Benham Rise, an extinct volcanic ridge off the east coast of Luzon, beating the May 13 deadline for states to submit claims over their extended continental shelves.
The Philippine delegation deposited the claim with the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) in New York on April 8, making clear it was only a “partial submission.”
This means that other submissions, including those over disputed territories, would be made later. The disputed Kalayaan Island Group (KIG), also known as the Spratly Islands, and Scarborough Shoal are also said to be part of the country’s extended continental shelf and are believed to contain oil, natural gas, minerals and polymetals.
By filing the claim over Benham Rise, which is undisputed territory, the government has stopped the clock on the UN deadline and buys time to sort out border issues with its neighbors over the KIG and Scarborough.
VERA Files started with Spratlys, baseline and extended continental shelf. One year after, it’s again Spratlys, baseline and extended continental shelf.
On March 25 last year VERA Files came out with a two-part special report on the government’s scrambling to meet the deadline set by the United Nations for the submission of the Philippine claim of its extended continental shelf, the underwater extension of the land.
The deadline set by the Convention of the Law of the Sea, which the Philippines ratified 24 years ago, for coastal states to declare their extended continental shelf is May 13, 2009.
By Tess Bacalla VERA Files RANGOON, Myanmar—Let it not be said that the month of March went by without the outside world taking a moment…
Update: Mikey Arroyo confirms meeting with JDV on cha-cha but denies asking for his help for more signatures. by VERA Files Malacañang has not given…
Related story: China sends large patrol boat to Spratly islands
by Tessa Jamandre
VERA Files
The Philippines will soon initiate border talks with its neighbors and finally confront territorial issues it has long avoided, the most contentious being the dispute with Malaysia over Sabah, now that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has signed the Philippine Archipelagic Baseline Law.
The Baseline Law defines the limits of Philippine territory. It is these limits that will determine the country’s extended continental shelf, which is believed to contain substantial amounts of oil, natural gas, minerals and polymetals.
The Philippines has less than two months to beat the May 13, 2009 deadline for the submission of its claim over the extended continental shelf before the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS). The UN body, however, will not rule on a claim if it involves disputed territory.