No sovereignty in own territory

The four-month-old Philippine baseline law got its first test last Friday and it failed miserably and embarrassingly. Last Friday, CNN reported a Chinese submarine collided with an underwater sonar array towed by the destroyer USS John S. McCain off the Philippines. Other wire reports from Washington D.C. described the location as "off Subic Bay" in Zambales. Chinese media said the encounter was near Scarborough Shoal. The Philippine government version of the location of the high seas collision, given two days after the incident, was closer to that of China. Defense Assistant Secretary Alberto Valenzuela said "it was 125 nautical miles off Subic, near the Scarborough Shoal, which is 123 nautical miles from Subic." Under the baseline law, Scarborough shoal is part of Philippine territory classified as a "regime of islands." Inclusion of the shoal in Philippine territory was protested by China, which also claims the shoal as well as the whole of South China Sea. From the three versions of the location of the collision, it can be concluded that it is in Philippine territory. It can be likened to two quarreling bullies bringing their fight into the front yard a third party, which, in this case, is the Philippines. What did the Philippines do after seeing the two intruders fighting in its front yard? Press Secretary Cerge Remonde showed his ignorance of the baseline law said the "the two ships were outside Philippine waters." Someone, please give Remonde a copy of the baseline law and the UNCLOS (United Nations Commission on the Law of the Sea) treaty, which the Philippines signed. Underline please the part where maritime regimes or zones are defined: territorial sea (12 nautical miles from the baseline), contiguous zone (24 nm), economic exclusive zone (200 nm), continental shelf (200 nm) and extended continental shelf (350 nm). Don’t forget to give Remonde a copy of the Philippine Constitution and bookmark Article I, "The National Territory" which says. "The national territory comprises the Philippine archipelago, with all the islands and waters embraced therein, and all other territories over which the Philippines the Philippines has sovereignty or jurisdiction, consisting of its terrestrial, fluvial and aerial domains, including its territorial sea, the seabed, the subsoil, the insular shelves, and other submarine areas. The waters around, between, and connecting the islands of the archipelago, regardless of their breadth and dimensions, form part of the internal waters of the Philippines." Valenzuela said there’s nothing to be concerned about because the incident occurred inside the country’s 200-mile exclusive economic zone but outside the country’s 12 nautical mile territorial waters. "Our concern is that we must be sure that no foreign vessels enter our territorial waters without authority. We cannot prohibit them from passing through (in economic zones)," he said. Valenzuela is not quite accurate because since the new baseline law classifies Scarborough Shoal as regime of islands, it generates its own territorial and contiguous zones. That means 12 nautical miles from the shoal is still Philippine territorial waters. By Valenzuela’s description that the incident happened "125 nautical miles off Subic, near the Scarborough Shoal, which is 123 nautical miles from Subic" proves that it was inside Philippine territorial waters which he himself said we should have jurisdiction over any ship in that area. Harry Roque of Center law Philippines, asks, “What were the Chinese submarine and the American destroyer doing in our waters in the first place?” The first statement from Philippine Navy spokesman Edgard Arevalo said there was no request for the US for its warship to enter into Philippine waters and that there was no RP-US military exercise that would justify its presence there. Valenzuela, on the other hand, said the US ship actually came from an exercise between US and the Philippines and passed by Subic to refuel and for other logistics needs before sailing out of Philippine territorial waters. It is understandable for Philippine officials to downplay the incident because what can they do? Protest the intrusion of the US and China? One of the four attributes of a state is sovereignty (others are people, territory and government), the supreme right of the state to command obedience within the state. The incident showed the sad reality that we couldn’t command obedience from intruders in our own territory. Without sovereignty, there is no state. What are we then?