House approves several vital bills

By Maricel V. Cruz

CONGRESS approved on Monday several significant measures including one declaring the maritime zones of the Philippines in order to establish the legal bases by which social, economic, commercial, and other activities may be conducted in those areas.

The House of Representatives in apparent rush of its legislative agenda, passed a number of bills as looking ahead to its adjournment sine die on May 31.

With an overwhelming 284 affirmative votes, the chamber ratified House Bill

(HB) 7819 or the proposed Philippine Maritime Zones Act, which according to Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez “will provide flexibility in enacting laws pertinent to the rights and obligations that the Philippines can exercise over its maritime zone.”

“Aside from this, the bill also provides sovereign rights over these maritime zones, thus establishing the Philippines’ exclusive rights to explore and exploit living and nonliving resources found in these zones, in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and other existing laws and treaties,” Romualdez said.

Under HB 7819, the country’s maritime zones comprise the internal waters, archipelagic waters, territorial sea, contiguous zone, exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and continental shelf. These were defined in the measure which also requires all territories of the