• Summary

This legal document contains Republic Act (RA) No. 5446 of 18 September 1968 to Amend Section 1 of Republic Act 3046, which was to define the baselines of the Territorial Sea of the Republic of the Philippines. Section 1 of RA No. 3046 was amended in this RA No. 5446  for typological error. The basepoint and baselines of the territorial sea– not the ‘archipelagic baseline’ – of this RA No. 5446 are the same as those in RA No. 3046.

Notably, this RA was established before UNCLOS III with the legal framework for archipelagic states and associated legal concepts in 1982. This explains the use of the word “baselines of the territorial sea” rather than “archipelagic baseline” in both RA No. 3046 and 5446. Therefore, while the length of Line 27 (TONGQUILI.-Sumbasumba I.) was 259,400 Metres (140.065 nautical miles), exceeding the limit of 125 nautical miles for baselines enclosing archipelago provided in Article 47 of 1982 UNCLOS, this was not a violation of UNCLOS at the time of promulgation. However, this became a violation of UNCLOS until 2008 when the Philippines adopts RA No. 9522 amending RA No. 3046 and No. 5446 to [re]define the archipelagic baselines. 

• Documents: RA No. 5446 of 18 September 1968 to Amend Section 1 of Republic Act 3046 (adopted from UN Treaty Series)
• Amends: RA No. 3046 of 17 June 1961 to Define the Baselines of the Territorial Sea of the Republic of the Philippines (adopted from UN Treaty Series)