MANILA - President Rodrigo Duterte’s consultative committee has firmed up the new federal constitution to “obligate” the government to pursue the Philippines’ sovereign rights over parts of its territory now being claimed by China.

The proposal also provides a clearer constitutional backing in case Manila decides to revive its dormant claim over Sabah, a resource-rich area administered by Malaysia.

Surveillance photos showing 2 Chinese military planes landing on Mischief Reef has raised security concerns here, as Beijing continued its military build-up in the disputed waters.

Mischief Reef is located within the Philippines’ 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone, over which Manila is supposed to enjoy sovereign rights to exploit resources there.

“We are obligating the government also to assert our sovereign rights, leaving of course the details and minutiae or policy to government because those are things which you cannot put in the constitution,” Fr. Ranhilio Aquino, a member of the consultative committee, said in a press conference Thursday.

“We must also be firm in asserting our rights that pertain to the Philippines.”

Fr. Ranhilio Aquino says concom has agreed on revision on Article 1 which includes sections on “sovereignty over territory” and “sovereign rights” pic.twitter.com/VcWwytUBlV — Christian Esguerra (@IanEsguerra) April 19, 2018

The proposed article on national territory states that the Philippines “has sovereignty over islands and features outside its archipelagic baselines pursuant to the laws of the Federal Republic, the law of nations, and the judgments of competent international courts or tribunals.”

Aquino said the proposal “gives constitutional status” to the 2016 Hague ruling favoring the Philippines, but which China has ignored.

Duterte, who created the consultative committee, has set aside the arbitral ruling in the meantime in exchange for economic support from Beijing.

The proposed provision in the new charter says that the Philippines “has sovereign rights over that maritime expanse beyond its territorial sea to the extent reserved to it by international law, as well as over its extended continenta shelf including the Philippine (Benham) Rise.”

“Its citizens shall enjoy the right to all resources to which they are entitled by historic right,” it adds.

Aquino said the proposal was not meant to “expand (by) claiming more territory,” but merely “consolidates” existing claims to which the Philippines “may be legally entitled both by domestic and international law.”

HISTORIC RIGHT

A crucial inclusion is that the Philippines “has sovereignty over all the other territories belonging to the Philippines by historic right or legal title.”

The provision will have an impact on the country’s existing claim over Sabah, which joined the Federation of Malaysia in 1963.

“If we, in the exercise of our sovereignty, decide to actively pursue our Sabah claim, then that should be allowed by our constitution,” said Aquino.

Former Senate President Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr., a fellow concom member, was “very strong about seeing to it that there was ample room” in the provision for the Philippines to assert its claim, the priest said.

At the heart of the dispute is the interpretation of an 1878 agreement between the Sultan of Sultan and representatives of a British company over Sabah.

The sultan had received the territory from the sultan of Brunei for helping quash a rebellion there in the 17th century.

The Philippines considers the agreement with the British company as a “lease” while Malaysia insists it was a cession, for which it continues to pay the Sulu sultan’s heirs around P70,000 annually today.

“If that is the case, then there is no reason why the Philippines should be foreclosed from pursuing actively its claim to Sabah,” Aquino said

“We are not doing that now so as not to rock the boat very much in this age of ASEAN integration, but we should not be foreclosed from doing so and our constitution should allow us to do that.”