Q: What is Preamble?

the seabed, the subsoil, the insular shelves, and

other submarine areas. The waters around
We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the
between, the connecting the islands of the
aid of Almighty God, in order to build a just and
archipelago, regardless of their breadth and
humane society and establish a Government that
dimensions, from part of the internal waters of
shall embody our ideals and aspirations, promote
the Philippines. Art 1 of the 1987 Constitution.
the common good, conserve and develop our
patrimony, and secure to ourselves and our Q: What is archipelagic doctrine?
posterity the blessings of independence and
Unclos, ratified by 165 states comprising 85% of
democracy under the rule of law and a regime of
the entire membership of the United Nations, is
truth, justice, freedom, love, equality, and peace,
the primary international law governing the use
do ordain and promulgate this Constitution.
of the oceans and seas of our planet. Specifically,
Dean Vicente Sinco says of the Preamble: “The Unclos governs the use of the following maritime
preamble performs a vital function in a zones
constitution. Its value is not merely formal but
Q: What is UNCLOS?
real and substantive. It is to the constitution what
the enacting clause is to a statue. The authenticity (a) internal waters or archipelagic waters, the
of the authorship of the constitution is made landward waters adjacent to the territorial sea;
patent in the preamble. Without this or
something equivalent to it, the source of (b) territorial sea, an area of 12NM from the
authority that gives valid force to the baselines along the coast,
constitutional mandates may lie concealed, (c) exclusive economic zone (EEZ), an area of
perhaps left to the dangers of uncertain 200NM from the baselines;
conjectures.”
(d) extended continental shelf (ECS), an
Thus, it was pointed out that “general welfare” additional are of 150 Nm from the outer limits of
should really mean “ikabubuti ng nakararami” the EEZ, and
while “common good” shall mean “ikabubuti ng
e) The High Seas AREA which is the maritime
lahat”. Thus, all efforts and rules of society and
zone beyond the ECS. The High Seas belong to
government should be for the welfare of all,
all states, whether coastal or land-locked.
without exceptions. “The patrimony of the
Nation” now read “our patrimony”, to make it Q: Zones and rights under UNCLOS
more emphatic, a Nolledo amendment. The
words “blessings of independence and The exclusive Economic Zone is an area beyond
and adjacent to the territorial sea, which shall not
democracy”, an Edmundo Garcia amendment,
to underscore the importance of true extend beyond 200 nautical miles from the
independence even in the presence of democratic baseline from which the territorial sea is
measured.
beliefs and practices.
Territorial sea is 12 nautical miles from the
Q: Define Philippine Territory
baseline. Contiguous zone is 24 nautical miles
The national territory comprises the Philippine from the baseline. Continental Shelf is 150
archipelago, with all the islands and waters nautical miles from the baseline.
embraced therein, and all other territories over
which the Philippines has sovereignty or Q: Pact sunt servanda?
jurisdiction, consisting of its terrestrial, fluvial Tre states really bound to fulfill the commitments
and aerial domains, including its territorial sea, they undertake pursuant to a bilateral or
multilateral treaty once it has been ratified and lanes passage. he imposition of these passage
then enters into force? According to pacta sunt rights through archipelagic waters under
servanda, they are. This Latin phrase, which may UNCLOS III was a concession by archipelagic
be roughly translated as “treaties shall be States, in exchange for their right to claim all the
complied with,” describes a significant general waters landward of their baselines, regardless of
principle of international law—one that underlies their depth or distance from the coast, as archipelagic
the entire system of treaty-based relations waters subject to their territorial sovereignty. If the
between sovereign states. maritime delineation is contrary to UNCLOS III,
the international community will of course reject
Petitioners submit that RA 9522 "dismembers a
it and will refuse to be bound by it. UNCLOS III
large portion of the national territory" because it
favors States with a long coastline like the
discards the pre-UNCLOS III demarcation of
Philippines. Nevertheless, the prerogative of
Philippine territory under the Treaty of Paris and
choosing this option belongs to Congress, not to
related treaties, however, petitioners’ theory fails
this Court. The enactment of UNCLOS III
to persuade us. UNCLOS III has nothing to do
compliant baselines law for the Philippine
with the acquisition (or loss) of territory. It is a
archipelago and adjacent areas, as embodied in
multilateral treaty regulating, among others, sea-
RA 9522, allows an internationally-recognized
use rights over maritime zones. It only recognizes
delimitation of the breadth of the Philippines’
coastal and archipelagic States’ graduated
maritime zones and continental shelf. RA 9522 is
authority over a limited span of waters and
therefore a most vital step on the part of the
submarine lands along their coasts. On the other
Philippines in safeguarding its maritime zones,
hand, baselines laws such as RA 9522 are enacted
consistent with the Constitution and our national
by UNCLOS III States parties to mark-out
interest.
specific basepoints along their coasts from which
baselines are drawn, either straight or contoured, C. Article II
to serve as geographic starting points to measure
Section 15 Article II
the breadth of the maritime zones and
continental shelf. Thus, baselines laws are The State shall protect and promote the right to
nothing but statutory mechanisms for UNCLOS health of the people and instill health
III States parties to delimit with precision the consciousness among them.
extent of their maritime zones and continental
shelves. Territorial claims to land features are Section 16. The State shall protect and advance
outside UNCLOS III, and are instead governed the right of the people to a balanced and healthful
by the rules on general international law. ecology in accord with the rhythm and harmony
of nature.
Whether referred to as Philippine "internal
waters" under Article I of the Constitution or as Q: Balanced ecology
"archipelagic waters" under UNCLOS III "a state of dynamic equilibrium within a
(Article 49 [1]), the Philippines exercises community of organisms in which genetic,
sovereignty over the body of water lying species and ecosystem diversity remain relatively
landward of the baselines, including the air space stable, subject to gradual changes through natural
over it and the submarine areas underneath. succession."
Thus, domestically, the political branches of the
Philippine government, in the competent Q: What is Biodiversity?
discharge of their constitutional powers, may
Biodiversity is the variability among living
pass legislation designating routes within the
organisms from all sources, including terrestrial,
archipelagic waters to regulate innocent and sea
marine, and other aquatic ecosystems and the reasonable grounds for concern, the
ecological complexes of which they are part; this precautionary principle should be applied and,
includes diversity within species, between thereby, the field trials be enjoined
species, and of ecosystems. Biodiversity forms
Q: What is the objective of the Petitioner in
the foundation of the vast array of ecosystem
conducting its experiment?
services that critically contribute to human well-
being. Petitioner University of the Philippines Los
Banos (UPLB), the implementing institution of
Q: What is your understanding of the concept of
the field trials, conducted a contained experiment
GMO?
on Bt talong under the supervision of the
GMO (genetically modified organism) is the National Committee on Biosafety of the
result of a laboratory process where genes from Philippines (NCBP).7 The NCBP, created under
the DNA of one species are extracted and Executive Order No. (EO) 430,8 is the
artificially forced into the genes of an unrelated regulatory body tasked to: (a) "identify and
plant or animal. The foreign genes may come evaluate potential hazards involved in initiating
from bacteria, viruses, insects, animals or even genetic engineering experiments or the
humans. introduction of new species and genetically
engineered organisms and recommend measures
Q: What is the claim of Greenpeace on the to minimize risks"; and (b) ''formulate and review
conduct of experiment conducted by the national policies and guidelines on biosafety,
Petitioner of BT Talong? such as the safe conduct of work on genetic
A: Greenpeace Southeast Asia filed before the engineering, pests and their genetic materials for
Court a Petition for Writ of Continuing the protection of public health, environment[,]
Mandamus and Writ of Kalikasan with Prayer for and personnel[,] and supervise the
the Issuance of a Temporary Environmental implementation thereof." Upon the completion
Protection Order (TEPO)18 (petition for Writ of of the contained experiment, the NCBP issued a
Kalikasan) against herein petitioners alleging that Certificate10 therefor stating that all biosafety
the Bt talong field trials violated their measures were complied with, and no untoward
constitutional right to health and a balanced incident had occurred.
ecology considering, among others, that: (a) the Q: What action did the SC take in order to
Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC), as carry out the constitutional guarantee to
required by Presidential Decree No. (PD) good health
1151,19 was not secured prior to the field
trials;20 (b) the required public consultations A: Agreeing with the CA, the Court held that the
under the Local Government Code (LGC) were precautionar; principle applies in this case since
not complied with;21 and (c) as a regulated article the risk of harm from the field trials of Bt talong
under DAO 08-2002, remains uncertain and there exists a possibility of
serious and irreversible harm. The Court
Bt talong is presumed harmful to human health observed that eggplants are a staple vegetable in
and the environment, and that there is no the country that is mostly grown by small-scale
independent, peer-reviewed study showing its farmers who are poor and marginalized; thus,
safety for human consumption and the given the country's rich biodiversity, the
environment.22 Further, they contended that consequences of contamination and genetic
since the scientific evidence as to the safety of Bt pollution would be disastrous and irreversible.
talong remained insufficient or uncertain, and
that preliminary scientific evaluation shows