The US Backs the creation of the Philippine New Standard Map after enacting the Philippine Maritime Zone Act into Law, annexing the West Philippine Sea as part of Philippine Sovereignty.

The United States supports the Philippines’ enactment of the Maritime Zones Act, signed into law by President Marcos on November 8, 2024. The Maritime Zones Act aligns Philippine domestic laws with the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention and the 2016 Arbitral Tribunal ruling. This law defines the Philippines internal waters, archipelagic waters, territorial sea, contiguous zone, exclusive economic zone, and continental shelf in line with the Convention.
Many other nations, including fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, have enacted similar legislation over the years. The passage of the Maritime Zones Act by the Philippines is a routine matter and further clarifies Philippine maritime law.
The United States values Philippine leadership in upholding international law, particularly in the South China Sea, and calls on all states to comport their maritime claims to the international law of the sea as reflected in the Convention.
THE Philippines will release soon a new map that will include the West Philippine Sea within its jurisdiction, the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority said last week.
Speaking during a press conference in The Philippines Presidential Palace, Namria Administrator Peter Tiangco said the map will be published after the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) for the newly signed Republic Act 12064, or the Philippine Maritime Zones Act, is released.
The Philippines already have the maps prepared. Manila is just waiting for the implementing rules and regulations in order for us to modify or revise the maps we have prepared accordingly until its final publication.
Asked to compare the new map with that one issued by China in August 2023, which incorporates Taiwan and most of the West Philippine Sea, Tiangco said: The big difference here is that the Philippines new map has a legal basis supported by existing laws.
Earlier last week, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed the Philippine Maritime Zones Act that aims to declare the country's maritime zones in accordance with the standards set by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos).
The Maritime Zones Law uses the archipelagic baselines under the 2009 Philippine Baselines Law as the basis upon which the country's maritime zones are measured.
Apart from identifying the Philippine internal waters, the law also defines the archipelagic waters, full entitlement of a 12 nautical miles territorial sea, declaration of a 24 nautical miles contiguous zone from the baselines, and the 200 nautical miles exclusive economic zone and continental shelf where the Philippines can exercise sovereign rights and jurisdiction.
During the same press briefing, Sen. Francis Tolentino said the signing of the Philippine Maritime Zones Act was an enforcement of the 2016 arbitral ruling that invalidated China's massive claims in the South China Sea.
Tolentino, who sponsored the measure in the Senate, also expressed elation over the enactment of the law as well as the Philippine Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act.
As the Philippines reaffirming the extent of its country’s maritime territories and right to resources, including in the South China Sea, draws reaction and angering Beijing, which claims the hotly disputed waterway almost in its entirety.


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