Hannah L. Torregoza
Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago yesterday said she will not act on the two pending baselines bills but push for the creation of a joint congressional commission that will study the legal and technical aspects surrounding the issue on the country’s baseline instead.
Santiago, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, said her committee and the Committee on Defense and National Security have reached a consensus that it will first have a scholarly study of the Philippines’ national territory before they will discuss the pending bills on the archipelagic baselines in the House of Representatives and Senate.
"In my case, since I am the chair of the committee, I’m certainly not going to act on the bill. That’s one way, sometimes, of killing a bill. Or I will simply give them the lowest priority," Santiago told reporters after the hearing.
The House of Representative on Monday agreed to defer the approval of the bill on third and final reading to open consultations with senators and the executive department.
Both Senate and House legislators are confident that the bills will be passed before the May 2009 deadline set by the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Seas (UNCLOS).
However, after listening to experts during the committee hearing, Santiago stressed the need for further study of the country’s territorial rights before considering the baseline bill.
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