Bajo de Masinloc remains an integral part of Philippine territory, and any action that undermines the rules-based international order—particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the binding 2016 Arbitral Award on the South China Sea—constitutes a clear violation, according to Ambassador Antonio M. Lagdameo, the Philippines’ Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York. “Bajo de Masinloc has always been an integral part of the territory of the Philippines. Only the Philippines, in the exercise of its sovereignty, has the right to establish baselines, and the breadth of the territorial sea around Bajo de Masinloc, in line with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,” Lagdameo said during the UN General Assembly’s debate on Oceans and the Law of the Sea.

Tonelada, R., & Dantes, C. (2024, December 14). PH asserts sovereignty over Bajo de Masinloc shoal in UN assembly. Manila Standard, pp. A1, A2.