The Philippines was, and in my mind still is, an ardent supporter of the development of the concept of archipelagic states in the Law of the Sea. The Philippines, together with Indonesia, Fiji, and Mauritius, participated actively in the first meeting of the archipelagic states in New York on 13 March 1972, working together to formulate the principles for the archipelagic states, including their rights and obligations, to be submitted to the coming third UN Law of the Sea Conference, which was to start in 1973. They were able to agree tentatively on four principles, although they still had some basic differences on the details, especially on the criteria for their status as archipelagic states, their rights and obligations over the archipelagic waters, and the rights of other states over those waters. At the suggestion of the Philippines, another meeting was held in Manila on 25–26 May 1972 (Mauritius did not participate in the Manila meeting), attempting to further formulate the agreed principles. After lengthy discussions, including on a trip to Corregidor across Manila Bay, three basic principles were agreed on – the definition of an archipelagic state, the sovereignty of an archipelagic state over the waters within its archipelagic baselines, and “innocent passage” of foreign vessels through such sealanes as may be designated by the archipelagic state.

These three principles were later introduced during the third UN Law of the Sea Conference, which began in New York in 1973 and lasted until December 1982 in Montego Bay, Jamaica. The UNCLOS 1982 incorporated these basic principles after their development, “amendment”, and regulation into nine Articles (Articles 46–54).

Many years after the Law of the Sea Conference, I engaged Rodolfo C. Severino in discussions on Law of the Sea issues. There is no doubt that he understands the basic elements of the Law of the Sea Convention, particularly the Philippine position on some of the major issues.

One of the most perplexing issues was the nature of the lines drawn by the Treaty of Paris of 1898, in which Spain delivered sovereignty over the Philippines to the United States. The Philippines later claimed that the lines were “territorial” in nature and encompassed an expanse of sea outside of the Philippines island group, up to the extent of some 250 miles from the Philippines’ coast lines.