Lawmaker pushes passage of maritime zones law

MANILA, Philippines — Senate majority leader Francis Tolentino stressed yesterday the importance of having the maritime zones bill passed into law after it was mentioned by President Marcos in his speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.

President Marcos’ mentioning the bill in his keynote address at a defense and security forum highlighted its importance amid China’s harassment in Philippine waters, Tolentino said in a dwIZ interview yesterday.

Tolentino added that he had an executive session with Executive Secretary Lucas Besamin where they discussed the recently ratified maritime zones bill, now a step closer to being signed into law.

Malacañang wanted to have the bill include the archipelagic sea lanes in addition to the maritime zones that it seeks to delineate in Philippine waters, Tolentino said.

There is a need to approve the bill when Congress resumes in July to prevent possible arrest of Filipinos right in Philippine waters by the intruding China coast guard, which is under instruction from Beijing to detain “trespassers” in waters it claims as its own.

Beijing said its directive, denounced by Manila and its allies, takes effect on June 15.

“Their June 15 warning is near our June 12 independence day. So our own coast guard should be ready if China becomes serious in implementing their new rule, which is illegal,” Tolentino said.

“As President, I look forward to signing our Maritime Zones Law, which will clarify the geographic extent of our maritime domain,” Marcos said in his speech on Friday.

“We are not only unyielding in protecting our patrimony, our rights, and our dignity as a proud and as a free country. We are also firm in our commitment to regional and global peace,” he added.