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| The Kalayaan, Panatag & other disputed islands; Future conflict zones? | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Feb 2 2005, 08:00 PM (156,104 Views) | |
| israeli | Apr 13 2009, 03:09 PM Post #201 |
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RP files claim over Benham Rise with UN TESSA JAMANDRE, VERA Files GMANews.tv 04/13/2009 | 02:10 PM The Philippines has filed before the United Nations a claim over Benham Rise, an extinct volcanic ridge off t¬he east coast of Luzon, beating the May 13 deadline for states to submit claims over their extended continental shelves. The Philippine delegation deposited the claim with the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) in New York on April 8, making clear it was only a “partial submission." This means that other submissions, including those over disputed territories, would be made later. The disputed Kalayaan Island Group (KIG), also known as the Spratly Islands, and Scarborough Shoal are also said to be part of the country’s extended continental shelf and are believed to contain oil, natural gas, minerals and polymetals. By filing the claim over Benham Rise, which is undisputed territory, the government has stopped the clock on the UN deadline and buys time to sort out border issues with its neighbors over the KIG and Scarborough. “As a gesture of good faith, the Philippines makes this partial submission in order to avoid creating or provoking maritime boundary disputes where there are none, or exacerbating them where they may exist, in areas where maritime boundaries have not yet been delimited between opposite or adjacent coastal States," said the government in its partial submission. The UN defines the continental shelf as the “the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas that extend beyond its territorial sea" up to 200 nautical miles from the archipelagic baseline. A continental shelf that goes farther than 200 nautical miles is called the extended continental shelf. The Philippine claim over Benham Rise was prepared long before Congress enacted Republic Act No. 9522, also known as the Archipelagic Baselines Law, whose constitutionality is being questioned in the Supreme Court. The Benham Rise Region is bounded by the Philippine Basin on the north and east, and by Luzon on the west and south. The submission asserted that Benham Rise is an extension of the Philippines’ continental shelf based on seismic, magnetic, gravity and other geological data collected. The executive summary of the Philippine submission said the baselines used in the partial submission conform to the requirements of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and were used as the basis for delineating the maritime territorial and jurisdictional zones, including the continental shelf. It was Philippine ambassador to the UN Hilario Davide who filed the country’s partial submission with the CLCS. Among those who traveled to New York for the submission were lawyer Henry Bensurto, secretary general of the Center for Maritime and Ocean Affairs of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), and ambassador Minerva Falcon, head of the DFA’s Foreign Service Institute. A Philippine delegation is again expected to travel to New York to deposit the rest of the submissions in August, when the CLCS meets en banc. Bensurto said in an interview before leaving for New York that UN rules allow a partial submission. The government’s executive summary quoted the CLCS rules of procedure that “partial submissions may therefore be made by a single coastal State for areas of its continental shelf that are not the subject of a maritime boundary dispute or future maritime boundary delimitation." CLCS Commissioner Galo Carrera-Hurtado of Mexico helped the Philippines prepare its submission. The Benham Rise Region is not subject to any maritime boundary disputes, claims, or controversies, the executive summary said. |
| "To secure peace is to prepare for war." - Carl Von Clausewitz | |
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| flipzi | Apr 13 2009, 10:00 PM Post #202 |
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R-A-T-S
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That should be it. We should not look into our records and check if there are other claims that must be presented to the UN. :thumb: |
![]() " Sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them! - Art. II Sec 1, Philippine Constitution " " People don't care what we know until they know we care. " getflipzi@yahoo.com | |
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| pachador | Apr 14 2009, 07:20 AM Post #203 |
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Benham rise is an underwater plateau about 230 kilometers across, and about 3,000 meters below the surface, if my memory is right...... it is believed to contain oil and mineral deposits. its off the eastern luzon coast |
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| trixmar | Apr 22 2009, 03:34 PM Post #204 |
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Recruit
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we need mor equipments to defend our land including spratliy, and the new Bentham rise so there would be no incursions, and also to handle internal and external threats to our territory we need this followings 20(MRF) 30(ATTACK HELICOPTERS) 30(OPV) 20(MPV) 50(YPR765) 60(SELFPROPELED ARTILLERY ) |
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| kingkong | Apr 26 2009, 12:14 PM Post #205 |
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Member
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Surveying an area without establishing a civilization there or a military garrison does not hold the same political weight as staking an official claim. However, the PRC's claim to the Spratly Islands is mostly grounded in the philosophy that since they were present there first they rightly have sovereignty. Many of these claims to sovereignty come directly from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China and cite works such as "Records of Rarities" also known as "Exotic Things" which also describes foreign lands and fantastical creatures such as mermaids, bringing the validity of the source into question.[36] There is also doubt as to whether these sources state a claim of sovereignty or simply mention the Spratlys alongside other foreign lands. Claims of pottery being found are mostly shipwrecked treasure from Chinese Galleons that sailed through the area and did not necessarily come from anyone who inhabited or even visited the islands.[35] Philippines While the Philippines' claim to the Spratly Islands was first expressed in the United Nations General Assembly in 1946, Philippine involvement in the Spratlys did not begin in earnest until 1956, when on May 15, 1956, Filipino citizen and admiral Tomas Cloma proclaimed the founding of a new state, Kalayaan (Freedom Land). The text of the San Francisco treaty stated that Japan had to give up any claim of sovereignty over the Spratlys but did not specify the country to which the Spratlys would go. Tomas Cloma and the present day government's view is that this made the Spratlys res nullius. Cloma’s Kalayaan encompassed fifty three features spread throughout the eastern South China Sea, Itu Aba, Pag-asa and Nam Yit Islands, as well as West York Island, North Danger Reef, Mariveles Reef and Investigator Shoal but not including Spratly Island proper. Cloma then established a protectorate in July 1956 with Pag-asa as its capital and Cloma as “Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Kalayaan State”. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spratlys#Wildlife |
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| kingkong | Apr 26 2009, 12:18 PM Post #206 |
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It is a generally accepted practice in oceanography to refer to a chain of islands through the name of the biggest island in the group or through the use of a collective name. Note that Spratly (island) has an area of only 13 hectares compared to the 22 hectare area of the Pag-asa Island. Distance-wise, Spratly Island is some 210 nm off Pag-asa Islands. This further stresses the argument that they are not part of the same island chain. The Paracels being much further (34.5 nm northwest of Pag-asa Island) is definitely a different group of islands[37] A second argument used by the Philippines regarding their geographical claim over the Spratlys is that all the islands claimed by the Philippines lie within their archipelagic baselines, and that the Philippines is the only claimant which can make such a statement. The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III) stated that within its territorial waters (out to 12 nautical miles from the baseline), a coastal state is free to set laws, regulate use, and use any resource and that exclusive economic zones (EEZs) extend 200 nautical miles from the baseline. Within an EEZ, the coastal nation has sole exploitation rights over all natural resources. China, the Philippines, and Vietnam are all signatories to the UNCLOS III areement.[38] The Philippines also argue, under Law of the Sea provisions, that the PRC can not extend its baseline claims to the Spratlys because the PRC is not an archipelagic state. Whether this argument (or any other used by the Philippines) would hold up in court is debatable but possibly moot, as the PRC and Vietnam seem unwilling to legally substantiate their claims and have rejected Philippine challenges to take the dispute to the World Maritime Tribunal in Hamburg. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spratlys#Wildlife |
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| Fmr TOPP Awardee 82'PNP | Apr 28 2009, 06:23 AM Post #207 |
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PDFF Moderator
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Gidday, Mr. Kinkong, In this forum there are set of rules to be followed when posting, one of which is the prohibition of replying to your own post as can be gleaned from your two posts above. Please refer to the link below for your guidance. PDFF Posting Rules Your co-operation is highly enjoined. On behalf of the Moderating Team TOPP Associate Moderator PDFF |
![]() "GUILTY CONSCIENCE NEEDS NO ACCUSER" | |
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| kingkong | Apr 29 2009, 09:34 AM Post #208 |
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Fmr TOPP Awardee 82'PNPI didn't intend to reply to my own posts it was to further explain the sides or arguments of countries claiming the Spratlys... |
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| kingkong | Apr 29 2009, 09:52 AM Post #209 |
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There have been occasional naval clashes over the Spratly Islands. In 1988, China and Vietnam clashed at sea over possession of Johnson Reef in the Spratlys. Chinese gunboats sank Vietnamese armed transport ships supporting a landing party of Vietnamese soldiers. In response to growing concerns by coastal states regarding encroachments by "foreign" vessels on their natural resources, the United Nations convened the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in 1982 to determine the issue of international sea boundaries. In response to these concerns, it was resolved that a coastal state could claim two hundred nautical miles of jurisdiction beyond its land boundaries. However UNCLOS failed to address the issue of how to adjudicate on overlapping claims and so the future of the islands remains clouded. Spratly Islands dispute
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| kingkong | Apr 29 2009, 09:55 AM Post #210 |
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The press in the Philippines has reported many arrests of Chinese fishermen by Philippine authorities.[51] Their violations include illegal fishing methods, catching of endangered sea species,[52] fishing in a restricted zone and failure to allow the Philippine Navy and the Philippine Coast Guard to inspect their ships when they are spotted in regions under the sovereignty of the Philippines. They are usually labeled as "Chinese poachers" by Philippine authorities and press. They are arrested in various parts of the Philippines, not only in the Spratly region controlled by the Philippines. Spratly
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Fmr TOPP Awardee 82'PNP
8:32 AM Jul 11