MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has formally deposited its official nautical chart of Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal and its surrounding waters with the United Nations, setting the maritime limits to its claim over this West Philippine Sea feature on the international record despite China’s continued control over the area.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Friday that the chart was deposited with the UN Secretariat on July 29, nearly two years after China had done the same.
The DFA said the deposit complied with Article 16 of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), which requires coastal states to give due publicity to official charts or geographical coordinates showing the baselines from which the breadth of their territorial seas and exclusive economic zones (EEZs) are measured.
Panatag, also known as Bajo de Masinloc, lies about 220 kilometers west of Zambales, well within the Philippines’ 370-km EEZ. It has remained under Chinese control since a standoff between Philippine and Chinese vessels in 2012. The Philippines, China and Taiwan have competing claims over the shoal.
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Part of int’l record
By placing the chart with the UN secretary general, the Philippines said its official maritime information would form part of the public international record.
Philippine Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN Enrique Manalo formally presented National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (Namria) Chart No. 1567, titled “Bajo de Masinloc and Approach,” to Alice Hicuburundi, deputy director of the UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea.
Manalo was joined by Namria Administrator Peter Tiangco and officials, and legal and maritime experts from the DFA, Department of Justice, Office of the Solicitor General, Namria and the University of the Philippines.
The chart was prepared by Namria using internationally recognized hydrographic and geodetic standards.
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Clash over baselines
It shows the normal baselines of Panatag Shoal, as well as the outer limits of its territorial sea and contiguous zone, based on Unclos and Philippine law.
Under the Philippine Maritime Zones Act, which was signed into law by President Marcos on Nov. 7, 2024, the feature generates a territorial sea extending up to 22 kilometers from its normal baselines and a contiguous zone extending from 22 km to 44 km, the government said.
In response to the enactment of the law, China announced on Nov. 10, 2024, its baselines around Panatag. Manila protested against the move two days later, saying the Chinese-declared baselines had no legal basis and were not binding on the Philippines.
On Dec. 2, 2024, China formally deposited documents on the baselines and the territorial sea surrounding Panatag, which it calls Huangyan Dao, along with related charts and geographic coordinates.
The arbitral tribunal in The Hague had ruled in July 2016 that the high-tide features at Panatag are rocks under Article 121(3) of Unclos and therefore do not generate an EEZ or continental shelf. The shoal, however, generates its own territorial sea, the tribunal said.
Traditional fishing ground
The tribunal did not rule on who has sovereignty over the shoal. It established that the shoal had long been a traditional fishing ground for fishermen from the Philippines, China and other countries, and that China had unlawfully prevented Filipinos from exercising their traditional fishing rights to the shoal after May 2012.
China has rejected the 2016 arbitral ruling and continues to claim the shoal as its territory.
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“By depositing the chart, the Philippines formally notifies the international community of its normal baselines and the geographic extent of its applicable authority and jurisdiction at Bajo de Masinloc,” the government said.
It said the move would also improve transparency and provide a permanent public record of the country’s official hydrographic information.
The deposit also has significance amid climate change and sea-level rise, the government said, as coastlines and marine environments change over time.
“The Philippines remains firmly committed to the rule of law, the peaceful settlement of disputes, and the primacy of Unclos as the comprehensive legal framework governing all activities in the oceans and seas,” the government said.
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