Members of the Philippine Delegation to the presentation of its partial submission concerning the country’s entitlement to an extended continental shelf (ECS) in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), covering the West Palawan Region, headed by H.E. Enrique A. Manalo, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the UN (left of center), together with the members of the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS), on July 29, 2026.
The National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA) Extended Continental Shelf Technical Working Group spent 15 years working on the submission
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines on Wednesday, July 29 made an official presentation before the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf on the partial submission on its extended continental shelf in the West Philippine Sea, covering an area it calls the West Palawan Region, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) announced Wednesday, July 29.
In a release, DFA Deputy Assistant Secretary and spokesperson for maritime affairs Rogelio E. Villanueva Jr. said the submission was made under Article 76 of the United National Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Under Article 76, coastal states like the Philippines are entitled to establish the outer limits of its continental shelf, which includes the seabed and subsoil of areas under water beyond 200 nautical miles but not beyond 350 nautimal miles from the country’s baselines.
