MANILA — The Philippine government is urged to pass a law declaring its maritime zones, an archipelagic sea lanes law, and submit a claim to its continental shelf to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS).

These steps will help clarify and identify the extent of the maritime domain in the Kalayaan Island Group and strengthen Manila's position on the West Philippine Sea and its entitlements to the maritime domain, security analyst and Chinese studies expert Rommel Banlaoi said Wednesday.

"That is an urgent task for us, to pass a maritime zone law so that we will be able to have a domestic legislation identifying our maritime zones that will tell us the extent of our contiguous zone, our exclusive economic zone, and even our position on continental shelf where we can exercise our sovereign rights," Banlaoi said at the Pandesal Forum.

"Unfortunately, we have also not submitted our claim to our continental shelf."

• Experts: Time to put muscle into protecting maritime zones

Submitting a claim to the CLCS, Banlaoi said, will strengthen the country's basis of claiming parts of the Kalayaan Island Group that is beyond the exclusive economic zone and part of the continental shelf.

"If we really want to assert our position in that area, then we need to do something. We need to pass our maritime zones law, we need to pass our archipelagic sea lanes law and we need to submit our claim to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf," he said.

Meanwhile, Banlaoi is saddened by accusations that he spied for China, and denied that a group he led in the academe received Chinese state funding.

Banlaoi has left his post as deputy national security adviser after an unsigned letter of alleged National Security Council employees accused him of spying for China.

He said he left "for the better" to give way to someone associated with the military and give the NSC leadership a "civilian-military balance."

Banlaoi shared that he was also previously accused as a spy for the US Central Intelligence Agency when he studied in China, linked to the Abu Sayyaf when he studied the group as chairman of the Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research, and linked to the MILF and the NPA when he researched on the peace process.

Banlaoi said he remains undeterred and will continue to do his work as a scholar.

"I think we should avoid using that kind of labels, kasi unang-una (because first of all), it discourages scholars like me to pursue our task. And we have no other task but to contribute to knowledge production," he said.

"Nakakalungkot ang nangyari sa akin. [And] I’m struggling, kung alam niyo lang… (What's happened to me was unfortunate, and I'm struggling if you only knew) there are some friends that are keeping their safe distance from me, friends that used to support me because of the controversy," he added.

"They're keeping their safe distance and I understand them. But that will not prevent me from continuing my task to contribute to continuing the education not only of our people but also of all people of the world because we are scholars and I will die as a scholar."

• House OKs bill defining PH maritime zones on 2nd reading

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