February 9, 2026
MANILA – Former Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio on Sunday said there is no need to formally announce the coordinates of the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) as international law already provides for the EEZ limits.
Carpio made the pronouncement days after Senators Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan and Rodante Marcoleta debated over the West Philippine Sea, centering on the Philippines’ 200-nautical-mile EEZ under the arbitral ruling.
Marcoleta questioned the ruling’s legal clarity, saying it lacked precise coordinates for the EEZ and urging caution in public statements, including references to China’s assistance in maritime incidents near Scarborough Shoal.
READ: Experts refute Marcoleta: ‘West Philippine Sea is real’
However, in a statement, Carpio said the rights of a coastal state over its continental shelf exist “ipso facto and ab initio by virtue of its sovereignty over the land.”
He explained that the territorial sea and the continental shelf, where the EEZ and Extended Continental Shelf (ECS) are found, are considered integral natural extensions of the coastal land territory.
“This is expressed in the international law principle of ‘the land dominates the sea’,” said Carpio.
“A coastal state has an inherent right to its continental shelf, without need of any formality, announcement, proclamation or occupation. There is, therefore, no need to proclaim the coordinates of the outer limits of a coastal state’s EEZ,” he added, citing the 1969 North Sea Continental Shelf Cases, Articles 76 and 77 of United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea or Unclos.
Instead, what is required to be publicized is the coordinates of an archipelagic state’s baselines under Article 47(8) of Unclos—which the Philippines has complied with through Republic Act No. 9522.
Carpio is one of several figures who have corrected Marcoleta’s pronouncements over the West Philippine Sea, with Pangilinan already pointing out to his fellow senator that Philippine laws and the arbitral award already clearly affirmed the country’s maritime rights and invalidate China’s nine-dash-line claims.
READ: Tarriela says defending China in WPS claims is considered treason
Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, Commodore Jay Tarriela, days before the pronouncements were made, accused lawmakers and officials who defend China’s maritime claims as treasonous. /cb