138. TWO PHILIPPINE SEAS AND THE SEVEN SEAS
Summer time normally
brings me to the different parts of the country. In my younger days, I would
normally choose an island where I can step on. It was during my stint at the Office
of the Secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) under
former Senator Heherson T. Alvarez when I did my regularly “island hopping”
spree. I had a list enumerating all the islands and islets I set foot on. Travelling
to these islands would enable me to savor the sea breeze away from the smog of the
metropolis. Then, I started counting and poured in my bucket list the seas and
other bodies of water around and within the Philippine archipelago.
The Philippines has nine seas embracing its borders and scattered within the mid part of the archipelago. Two are named after our country while the remaining seven seas hold different names usually based on the name of the island within its proximity.
The most controversial of the nine is the West Philippine Sea located at the eastern part of the South China Sea. It has always been a potential flashpoint because it is claimed in part by Brunei, Malaysia, and the Philippines, and in whole by China, Taiwan, and Vietnam. Searching the net, from 2013 to 2015, China successfully claimed and militarized seven reefs in the South China Sea, five of which are within the West Philippine Sea, namely: Burgos Reef, Calderon Reef, Kagitingan Reef, Mabini Reef and McKennan Reef. For many years, the portion of the sea bordering the west of our country is referred to as South China Sea. In 2012, after the tense Scarborough Shoal Standoff, the government decided to name the maritime area as the West Philippine Sea. In 2013, the Philippines filed a case against China at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) concerning maritime questions in the West Philippine Sea. On July 12, 2016, five years ago today, the Permanent Court of Arbitration handed out a landmark victory for the Philippines and declared China’s nine-dash lines and historical claims on the entire South China Sea illegal. It also declared key features in the West Philippine Sea as falling within the Philippines’ maritime zone. China has rejected the ruling, as has Taiwan.
The first use of the term "West Philippine Sea" by the national government was as early as 2011, during the administration of President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III. The christening was intended for the national mapping system and to symbolize disagreement with China's sovereignty claim over the whole South China Sea.
Aside from the West Philippine Sea, there are eight other seas in the archipelago. At the east marginal border, we have the Philippine Sea which was named after the Philippine archipelago occupying an estimated surface area of 5 million square kilometers. Philippine history reveals that the Philippine Sea was the location of the Battle of the Philippine Sea from June 19 to 20, 1944, a major naval battle of World War II that eliminated the Imperial Japanese Navy's ability to conduct large-scale carrier actions. It took place during the United States' amphibious invasion of the Mariana Islands during the Pacific War. This was the largest carrier-to-carrier battle in history, involving 24 aircraft carriers, deploying roughly 1,350 carrier-based aircraft.
Celebes Sea, located south of the Philippines, is part of the western Pacific Ocean and is bordered on the north by the Sulu Archipelago and Sulu Sea and Mindanao Island, on the east by the Sangihe Islands chain, on the south by Sulawesi's Minahasa Peninsula, and on the west by northern Kalimantan in Indonesia. It extends 675 kilometers by 840 kilometers east-west and has a total surface area of 110,000 280,000 km2, to a maximum depth of 6,200 m.
The Sulu Sea is situated in the southwestern area of the Philippines, separated from the West Philippine Sea in the northwest by Palawan and from the Celebes Sea in the southeast by the Sulu Archipelago. Borneo is found to the southwest and Visayas to the northeast. The Sulu Sea contains a number of islands; Cuyo Islands and the Cagayan Islands are part of the province of Palawan whereas Mapun and the Turtle Islands are part of the province of Tawi-Tawi. The Tubbataha Reef National Marine Park, one of the World Heritage Sites is located at the Sulu Sea. The Iloilo Strait, the Guimaras Strait and the Basilan Strait are part of the Sulu Sea.
The five other smaller seas are located within the Visayas group of islands in Central Philippines. The Bohol Sea, also known as Mindanao Sea, is located between the Visayas and Mindanao Islands. It lies south of Bohol and Leyte and north of Mindanao. Siquijor and Camiguin are its two major islands. The sea connects to the Philippine Sea through the Surigao Strait, to the Camotes Sea both through the Canigao Channel and Cebu Strait, and to the Sulu Sea through the strait between Negros Island and Zamboanga Peninsula.
Camotes Sea, on the other hand, is a small sea situated between the Eastern Visayan and the Central Visayan regions. It is bordered by the islands of Leyte to the north and east, Bohol to the south, and Cebu to the west. It contains the Camotes Islands, Lapinig Island, Olango Island, Mactan Island, and various other small islets. The sea is connected to the Visayan Sea to the northwest. It is connected to the Bohol Sea in two ways: to the SW by the Cebu Strait (and its 3 channels, the Mactan, the Olango, & the Hilutangan), and to the SE by the Canigao Channel. The Camotes Sea also contains the Danajon Bank, which is a double barrier reef in the Philippines, which is a very rare geological formation, and there are only 6 double barrier reefs in the world. It comprises two sets of large coral reefs that formed offshore on a submarine ridge due to a combination of favorable tidal currents and coral growth in the area.
Samar Sea is another small sea situated between the Bicol Region of Luzon and the Eastern Visayas. It is bordered by the islands of Samar to the east, Leyte to the south, Masbate to the west, and Luzon to the north. The sea is connected to the Philippine Sea to the north via San Bernardino Strait, to Leyte Gulf to the southeast via San Juanico Strait, to the Visayan Sea to the southwest, and to the Sibuyan Sea to the northwest via Masbate Pass and Ticao Pass. It contains Biliran Island, the islands of Almagro, Maripipi, Sto. Nino, Daram and Tagapul-an.
The last of the nine is the Visayan Sea which is surrounded by the islands of the Visayas: Western Visayas, Eastern Visayas and Central Visayas to the south. It is bounded by the islands of Masbate to the north, Panay to the west, Leyte to the east and Cebu and Negros to the south. The sea is connected to the Sibuyan Sea to the northwest via the Jintotolo Channel, the Samar Sea to the northeast, the Panay Gulf (part of the Sulu Sea) to the southwest via the Guimaras Strait, and the Camotes Sea to the southeast. The largest island within this sea is Bantayan Island of Cebu province.
Like many archipelagic countries, boundaries are issues among the nations within the South China Sea. For centuries, the Philippines have been occupied by superpowers which include: Spain, United Kingdom, United States and Japan. Recently, our country is bullied by China to the extent that a number of our islands and islets in the West Philippines Sea had been occupied already. Filipinos must be vigilant and our leaders should make the ultimate stand that the territories we have known for centuries as ours must be protected and defended. Mga kababayan, ating ipaglaban ang ating karagatan at teritoryo!
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