The Three Territorial Domains

1. Terrestrial Domain. Refers to the land, this could be agricultural,

residential, and industrial lands.Moreover, this also includes the park, forest
and minerla areas of the Philipines.
2. Fluvial Domain. Refers to the water, this could be seas, rivers, oceans,
lakes, canals, ports and harbor.
*Internal or National Water. Include rivers, lakes, canals, ports, harbors,
gulfs and bays and waters around, between and connecting the islands of the
archipelago.
one important issue o consider is the grounding of the USS Guardian at
Tubbataha Reef in the waters of Palawas. The incident resulted to the
damaged of 2,345.67 square meters of the reef. Since it would be impossible
to drag or move the ship away from the reef, because it will cause more
damage, the US government opted to slavage the USS Guardiam, which
wouldmean to literally cut each part of the ship and remove it one by one.
Morover, after the salvage operation the US Navy was given a fine of P58
million. The amount was based on fines stipulated in Republic Act No. 10067
or the tubbataha Reefs Natural Park Act of 2009.
3. Aerial Domain refers to the air. The constitutional provision on aerial
domain is an affirmation of the generally accepted princile of international
law found in the international convention of civil aviation (Chicago
convention) which says that, stated have complete and exclusive
sovereignity over the air space above its territory. Thus, styate aircrafts are
not allowed to fly over the territory of another state or land therof without
aithorization by special agreement or otherwise and in accordance wioth the
terms thereof. An orbiting satellite owned by a state which is directly above
the territory of another but is in outer space does not offend the territorial
integrity of the latter state. So, if a satellite is positioned in outer space
directly pointing to the Philippine territory is acceptable as long as, the
information taken will not be used to destroy or endanger the life of the
Filipinos.
Right of Innocent Passage and Right of Involuntary Entrance
Right of Innocent Passage. Passage means navigation through the
territorial sea for the purpose of: (a) crossing that sea without entering
internal waters or calling at a roadstead or port facility outside internal
waters; or (b) proceeding to or from internal waters or a call at such
roadstead or port facility.
Passage shall be continuos and expeditious. However, passage

includes stopping and anchoring, but only in so far as the same are incidnetal
to ordinary navigation or are rendered necessary by force majeure or distress
or for the purpose of rendering assistance to persons, ships or aircraft in
danger or distress. Passage is innocent so long as it is not prejudicial to the
peace, good order or security of the coastal State.
Right of Involuntary Entrance. It is the right of any foreign merchant
vessel to enter the territorial waters of a state in case of emergency such as
lack of provisions, unseaworthiness of the vessel, bad weather, pursuit of
pirated or other force majeure.
ARCHIPELAGIC DOCTRINE
The second sentence of a Article I is an affirmation of the archipelagic
doctrine. By this doctrine is meant that a group os islands shall be considered
as a national unit. The waters around, between and connecting every island
on the group regardless of their breadth and dimensions wil be treated as
part of the internal waters. The doctrine implies full dominion and sovereign
rights over the waters among the island, which comprise the Philippine
Archipelago. With the application of the Archipelago Doctrine, the identity of
the Republic of the Philippines as one stat is peserved and the Filipino nation
looked upon as a unit and not as splintered into 7,104 islands (Martin, 1960).
Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on April
30, 1982, which was ratified by the Philippines in 1983, provides for a
Contiguous Zone measuring 12 miles. Notwithstanding the fact that the
Article I of the constitution did not provide for an Exclusive Economic Zone of
200 Nautical Miles, the Exclusive Economic Zone is a recognized principle of
international law. As such is recognized under our Constitution by virtue of its
adoption of the generally accepted principles of Internation Law. the exclusive
economic zone shall extend to a distance of two hundred nautical miles
beyond and from the baselines from which the territorial sea is measured.
Provided, that, where the outer limits of the zone as thus determined overlap
the economic zone of an adjacent or neighboring state, the common
boundaried shall be determined by agreement with the state soncerned or in
accordance with pertinent generally recognized principles of internation law
on delimination.
The State has the sovereign rights over the Exclusive Economic Zone
to explore, manage and exploit all the natural resources, living and non-living
in its waters, the seabed and subsoil