SEN. Miriam Defensor-Santiago yesterday asked Speaker Prospero Nograles to speed up action on the proposed Joint Resolution creating the Congressional Commission on National Territory.

Santiago, chair of the Senate committee on foreign relations, suggested the creation of the commission after her panel conducted a hearing on the proposal to draw the country’s baselines to include the disputed Spratly islands.

Santiago said bills that seek to redefine the country’s territorial boundaries be given a lower priority as a "complete, scientific, and scholarly study and analysis of the impact of the archipelagic doctrine on our national territory" is needed before discussing the pending bills.

Santiago said it would be a "complex problem" if the Philippines declared itself an archipelagic state without studying what would be its consequences.

She noted that if the country draws the territorial boundaries and claim ownership of the disputed Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) or the Spratlys, "it would be considered an offensive act and naturally a source of irritancy from our co-signers if we don’t have enough expertise to tackle legal (issues)."

The Commission on Maritime and Ocean Affairs under the Department of Foreign Affairs and the National Mapping Authority under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources have "reached a consensus that before we even we try to discuss the pending bills proposed by the House of Representatives and the Senate regarding archipelagic baselines in the Philippines, we must study the matter very carefully because it has many unintended consequences," she said.

House Bill 3216 was deferred for third and final reading while Senate Bill 1467 is pending at the committee level. Both measures seek to include the Spratlys off Palawan and the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea as part of the baselines.

The only problem now is "whether the Office of Maritime and Ocean Affairs of the Office of the President would support the establishment of the commission or will claim the commission to operate under them," Santiago said.

In a letter to Nograles, Santiago said she is preparing her committee report recommending its approval at the plenary.

The Congressional Commission on National Territory would be tasked to submit not later than December 31 a written report on national territory "to serve as a background paper for deliberations on the various bills seeking to define archipelagic baselines."