The National Territory of the Philippines

LESSON 3

The National Territory of the Philippines

In studying the history

of the Philippines, it is

important to have an idea of

its geography. As Filipinos,

we should be familiar with

the location of the

Philippines in the world- its

exact location, size, and

shape; type of climate; and

other important physical

characteristics of the

archipelago.

Since the three

important of history are

people, period, and place it

is most important to study

the location of the

Philippines. The place is the

stage where events that

shape the history of country

unfold.

History and Geography are related.

Like history, geography is considered as a

social science. Geography studies people as

the architects of the world they live in. And

just like history, it is hard to establish 100%

objectivity in the study of geography. The

process of determining the boundaries of

countries and the grouping of countries into

a particular region is usually based on

certain events and whoever has political

power during the period when this process

takes place.

Boundaries Of The National Territory Of The Philippines

According to Article I of the

Constitution of the Republic of the

Philippines, “ The national territory

comprises the Philippine archipelago, with

all the islands and waters embraced

therein, and all other territories over which

the Philippines has sovereignty or

jurisdiction, consisting of its terrestrial,

fluvial, and aerial domains, including its

territorial sea, the seabed, the subsoil, the

insular shelves, and other submarine areas.

The waters around, between, and

connecting the islands of the archipelago,

regardless of their breadth and dimensions,

from part of the internal waters of the

Philippines.”

The process of determining the

boundaries of the Philippines is based on

the Archepelagic Doctrine. The traditional

boundary of a 3-nautical-mile limitation in

the primary directions –north, south, east,

and west-is not an appropriate basis in

determining the boundaries of the

Philippines. Because the Philippines is an

Archipelago, it has a wide maritime

territory and long coastlines.

Due to the vastness of the Philippine

seas and the archipelagic nature of the

country, the Philippines did not follow the

traditional basis in determining the

boundaries of the country. This is because

the boundary of the Philippines in the

eastern coast of Mindanao is 50 kilometers

from the coast of Davao. In Luzon, the

boundary from the coast of Cagayan Valley

is 240 kilometers. In the western part of

Luzon, it is 240 kilometers from the coast of

Ilocos.

In order to accommodate the extent of

its boundaries, which exceeds the

traditional 3 nautical miles, the

Archipelagic Doctrine should be the basis of

delineating such as boundary. According to

this doctrine, the basis of the boundaries of

the archipelago should be the straight lines

connected by the points in the outer islands

or periphery of the archipelago. The

interconnected lines drawn in order to

incorporate the whole archipelago

determine the internal seas.

Meanwhile, the waters from the

baselines up to the limitation of the

international agreement determine the

territorial seas of the country. All the seas

that can be found around the archipelago

and in-between islands, whatever their

width and dimension, are part of the

Philippine archipelago.

The Archipelagic Doctrine was a result

of efforts of the Philippine Permanent

Mission to the United Nations in March

1995. This was led by Arturo Tolentino who

was also headed the delegation of the

Philippines that was sent to the United

Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea

(UNCLOS) where the Archipelagic Doctrine

was recognized. Prior to the UNCLOS, the

accepted boundary of a territory was 3

nautical miles.

Aside from Archipelagic Doctrine, the

third UNCLOS determined the Exclusive

Economic Zone (EEZ) in 1982. This states

that any state has jurisdiction up to 200

nautical miles from the baselines where the

territorial seas are measured, except in

cases where the external boundaries of the

zone coincides with the EEZ of a nearby

state.

In this case, the same boundary shall

be determined by a treaty between the two

states based on the principle of

international laws regarding delimitation. A

country has the right to explore, utilize,

preserve, and manage the natural

resources inside its EEZ. The Philippines

supported the EEZ and the government

even implemented Presidential Decree

Number 1599 which strengthen the EEZ

Just like the Archipelagic Doctrine, the

EEZ is equally important since it provides

the country to the right to explore, benefit

from, maintain, and manage its own

national resources. Although a state has

jurisdiction in the EEZ, it should permit

maritime vessels as well as aircrafts from

other states to pass through EEZ.

Location, Size, and shape of the

Philippines

The location of a place on the globe can

be expressed through longitude and latitude.

Longitude refers to the angular distances

determined in the eastern and western part of

Prime Meridian. These also look like big

circles stretching from North pole to the

South Pole. Meanwhile, the Prime Meridian

found in Greenwich, England is designated as

zero degree longitude.

Location

On the other hand, latitude refers to

the angular distances from the north or

south Equator. The equator has also been

designated as zero degree latitude. The

Tropic of Cancer is one of the important lines

that can be found on the globe. This can be

found 23.5° north of the Equator.

The Philippines is part of Southeast Asia.

It is located between the equator and the

Tropic of Cancer. The archipelago is 4°23’ and

21°25’ northern latitude and between 116°00’

and 127°00’ eastern longitude. The Bashi

Channel can be found at the northern part of

the Philippines; the Pacific Ocean on the east;

the Celebes Sea on the south; and the South

China Sea on the west. The nearest island in

the southwest is Borneo and the nearest in

the north is Taiwan.

Size

The Philippines comprises an

archipelago of some  7,107 islands located off

Southeast Asia, between the South  China Sea

on the west and the Philippine Sea on the

east.  The major islands are Luzon in the

north, the Visayan Islands  in the middle, and

Mindanao in the south. Luzon has a size of

104,687.8 sq. kms.; Mindanao, 94,630.1 sq.

kms.; and Visayas, 57,201.9 sq. kms.

As of March

2010, these were

divided into 17regions,

80 provinces, 138

cities,

1,496 municipalities

and

42,025 barangays In

addition, Section 2 of

Republic Act No. 5446

asserts that the

definition of the

territorial sea around

the Philippine

archipelago does not

affect the claim

over Sabah.

Size: The total area is about 300,000 square kilometers, including about

298,000 square kilometers of land and about 2,000 square kilometers of water.

The Philippines stretches about 1,850 kilometers from Y’Ami Island in the north

to Sibutu Island in the south and is about 1,000 kilometers at its widest point

east to west. The bulk of the population lives on 11 of the 7,107 islands.

Land Boundaries: The Philippines has no land boundaries. Nearby neighbors

are Taiwan to the north, Malaysia and Indonesia to the south, Vietnam to the

west, and China to the northwest.

Length of Coastline: Estimates of the total length of the coastline range from

17,500 kilometers (official Philippine figure) to 36,289 kilometers (U.S. figure).

The National Territory of the Philippines

ShapeThe shape of the Philippines is elongated. The

advantage of this kind of shape is the existence of

good fishing grounds, ports, and fair weather

because of the winds coming from the islands and

the seas. However, it has also his disadvantages.

For Instances, it is difficult to have a

continuous system of transportation of

highways and railways. Economic

development is hindered by the lack of an

effective system of transportation.

Climate

Climate plays an important role in the way of life of the

people in a society. It determines the type of economic

activities, kinds of plants, clothing, and shelter for a group of

people in a society. Moreover, climate has a significant effect

in the development of the Culture of society.

Our country, has a tropical climate characterized by

the rainy and dry seasons. If you have been to other countries

for like a year or so, you will notice them to have 4 seasons,

which is SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN, AND WINTER, those

countries are far from the equator so they experience snow.

In our country which is really close to the equator, we

experience two seasons, rainy and dry.

The cold, dry season is experienced from December to

February, this is knows as SUMMER SEASON, the RAINY

SEASON coincides with the southwest monsoon, the

southwest monsoon are winds coming from the sea towards

the Asian Continent, and the Northeast are winds coming

from the Asian Continent.

Remember that the three important elements of climate and weather are temperature, humidity, and amount of rainfall.

The coolest month is January with an average temperature of 25.5°C while the hottest month is May with an average temperature of 28.3°C. But in many cases, temperature during summer is higher than this, that is why extreme heat is widely felt.

Humidity- this refers to the moisture content of the atmosphere. It is said that the humidity in the Philippines is high because of the high temperature and also because of the surrounding seas. The average humidity of the Philippines in a month is from 71% every March to 85% in September.

Landforms

The Philippines is composed of plains, valleys, and

mountains. These are the primary topographical traits of the

country. Topography is the description of the shape of the surface of

a place or region on the map, including its position and elevated

places. Agricultural lands can be found in all provinces in the

archipelago.

From Northern Luzon, the coast of Ilocos can be found in the western

side while Central Cordillera can be found in the east. Cagayan Valley

is found in-between Central Cordillera and Sierra Madre Mountains

extending up to the coast of the Pacific Ocean. The Mountain of

Zambales and the Central Plain can be found in Central and Western

Luzon while the Sierra Madre can be found in the east.

Topography: The Philippines consists of volcanic islands,

including active volcanoes, with mostly mountainous interiors

surrounded by flat lowlands and alluvial plains of varying widths along

the coasts. The elevation ranges from sea level to the highest point of

Mount Apo on Mindanao Island, at 2,954 meters above sea level.

Southern Luzon has different topographical characteristics. It

is volcanoes, lakes, and plains. The Volcanoes include Taal,

Banahaw, Makilig, Isarog, Iriga, Mayon, and Bulusan. The

plains are appropriate for agriculture. There are also

mountains in the Visayas. Agricultural lands can be found in

the coast areas although there are farmlands in the interior

such as in PANAY and LEYTE.

Thank you for your time, once again group three presentation.

• Remember don’t back bite, kung sa bisaya pa libak. XDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXD