The Philippines on Tuesday said it is updating its laws to address vulnerabilities in subsea cable systems and outlined legal measures to close existing enforcement gaps against foreign threats.
Department of Justice (DOJ) Chief State Counsel Dennis Arvin Chan said securing the country’s maritime infrastructure is a critical necessity, noting that the Philippines’ existing legal framework for protecting critical underwater infrastructure is insufficient.
“As a maritime and archipelagic state, we cannot afford to have a weak maritime legal framework,” Chan told diplomats and experts at a forum on critical maritime infrastructure at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
As incidents involving the cutting of submarine cables and sabotage of submarine pipelines increase in several parts of the world, Chan said states, including the Philippines, can no longer afford to overlook the security of their underwater infrastructure.
Western governments have repeatedly expressed concern over alleged Russian and Chinese sabotage of subsea cables, which carry approximately 95% of the world’s communications and 99% of global internet traffic.
There are also at least 2,381 submarine pipelines across 162 countries, with a combined length of 1.1 million kilometers—enough to circle the Earth 30 times.
In the Philippines, 11 international submarine cables connect the country to the rest of the world, with at least nine cable landing stations. Another six trans-Pacific and intra-Asia submarine cables are under construction.
For domestic telecommunications, the Philippine Domestic Submarine Cable Network, a 2,500-kilometer cable system, interconnects multiple islands across the country.
As for oil and gas infrastructure, the Malampaya pipeline stretches about 505 kilometers toward the Calabarzon region from the country’s gas fields in the West Philippine Sea.
“These submarine cables and pipelines are not only critical, but they are also existential,” Chan said.
While attacks in internal waters fall under the Revised Penal Code’s provisions on damage to property, protecting the country’s offshore assets in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and continental shelf remains problematic, he said.
These areas, Chan pointed out, are “not subject to our sovereignty,” as the Philippines can only exercise sovereign rights in its EEZ under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
“The waters of our exclusive economic zone are international waters. Foreign vessels, such as fishing vessels, intentionally dragging their anchors on the seabed to destroy our submarine cables or pipelines are under the exclusive jurisdiction of their flag states,” he said.
Chan warned that this creates a dangerous loophole in scenarios involving state-sponsored hybrid warfare.
“No state which ordered the attack by its civilian vessels will take responsibility as a flag state to prosecute the alleged offenders,” he said.
“In such a case, why can’t a coastal state like the Philippines, for that matter, prosecute these foreign offenders directly? This situation highlights the gap and inadequacy of existing laws to deal with these modern problems.”
To close existing legal loopholes, Chan said the DOJ will craft the implementing rules for the newly enacted Philippine Maritime Zones Act (PMZA) and Philippine Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act (PASLA).
The agency will also consider existing international doctrines and principles on jurisdiction in establishing the legal basis for the Philippines to exercise jurisdiction over intentional attacks against submarine cables or pipelines in its EEZ and continental shelf.
The definition of piracy and malicious mischief under Philippine law will also be updated to expressly include attacks on submarine cables and pipelines.
Chan said the DOJ is likewise proposing to transform Articles 113, 114 and 115 of UNCLOS on injury to cables and pipelines into domestic law, allowing the Philippines to penalize damage caused by foreign vessels or citizens in international waters.
The DOJ, meanwhile, has established a permanent maritime advisory and legal action unit to serve as a center of excellence, train government lawyers and draft key legislation, Chan said.
SOURCE: BOLYONARYO
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