PH to release new map with West PH Sea, maritime rights

Metro Manila, Philippines — The country will release an updated map that will showcase the West Philippine Sea, Benham Rise to the east — now renamed as “Talampas ng Pilipinas” — and other maritime rights under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the 2016 arbitral award.

National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA) Director Peter Tiangco confirmed that the map is ready for final vetting. According to its website, NAMRIA is the central mapping agency, depository, and distribution facility of natural resources data in the form of maps, charts, texts, and statistics.

"All areas where the Philippines has sovereignty and sovereign rights will be included in our new map," Tiangco told reporters after a press briefing on the recently signed Philippine Maritime Zones and Archipelagic Sea Lanes laws in Malacanang.

He added that the new map would specify the coordinates of these maritime features.

“This is a very delicate matter… coming up with a new official Philippine map. We should be very careful with this one,” Tiangco emphasized.

He said the new map can stand legal scrutiny.

"Malaking pagkakaiba dito ang ating maps ay may legal basis at supported by Philippine laws,*" he added.

[Translation: A big difference here is that our maps have a legal basis and are supported by Philippine laws.]

He said the map would be published once the implementing rules and regulations for the Philippine Maritime Zones Act are released and take effect.

In 2023, the government protested China’s standard 10-dash line map that encompasses almost the entire South China Sea.

“This attempt to legitimize China’s purported sovereignty and jurisdiction over Philippine features and maritime zones has no basis under international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,” the Department of Foreign Affairs stated.