Campanilla explains crimes committed in EEZ


According to celebrity author and criminal law expert Campanilla, the Philippines has no sovereignty over the 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Under the convention of the law of the sea, the Philippines has sovereign right to fish and to exploit the natural resources in the zone. This sovereign right is not equivalent to sovereignty.

Under the convention, foreign States have the freedom of navigation and overflight over the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines. Freedom of navigation and overflight cannot be exercised in a place where a State has sovereignty such as such its 12-nautical-mile territorial water.

Under the convention, the Philippines has limited jurisdiction over crimes committed within the exclusive economic zone such as those involving fiscal, custom, immigration, health and safety. A State has absolute jurisdiction over crimes committed in a territory over which it has sovereignty subject only to a few exceptions under international laws.

The recognition of freedom of navigation and overflight and the limited jurisdiction over crimes committed in the exclusive economic zone militate against the concept of sovereignty.

If a Chinese fishing vessel deliberately bumps a Filipino vessel in the West Philippines Sea covered by the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines, and as a consequence, several Filipino fishermen died, the Philippines’s jurisdiction over the crime of murder cannot be based on the theory that the Philippines has sovereignty over the zone. Other principles must be used to justify its jurisdiction over murder committed within the zone such as flag state rule or passive personality principle.

SOURCE: Judge Campanilla offers a "Rapid and Comprehensive (Pre-Month) Bar Review on Criminal Laws" at https://www.facebook.com/notes/marlo-campanilla/murder-committed-in-the-200-miles-exclusive-economic-zone/2742349789117907/