QuestionsQuestions (DENR ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NO. 2001-17)
The policy is to protect people, especially local communities and marginal fisherfolk, by defining the geographic extent of a city/municipality’s municipal waters, which in turn determines taxation/revenue scope, law enforcement jurisdiction, resource allocation, and general management powers.
They include streams, lakes, inland bodies of water, and tidal waters within the municipality not included within NIPAS protected areas, public forest/timber lands/forest reserves/fishery reserves, and also marine waters between two lines drawn perpendicular to the general coastline at points where municipal boundary lines touch the sea at low tide, plus a third line parallel to the general coastline including offshore islands and fifteen (15) kilometers from such coastline.
In such case, the third line (parallel to the general coastline and defining the offshore extent) shall be equally distant from the opposite shores of the respective municipalities.
DENR oversees activities conducted by NAMRIA as the mother agency, provides implementation mechanism, and assists/participates (through its offices/units/agencies/programs/projects) in public hearings.
NAMRIA delineates/delimits on maps/charts, provides proposed maps/technical descriptions before public hearing, approves maps/charts/technical descriptions resulting from the process, documents comments in public hearings, revises as needed, approves and provides official copies to the municipality, provides technical assistance, acts as repository, and conducts actual verification of boundary limits as required.
They must request NAMRIA to delineate/delimit, conduct public hearings/consultations, settle disputes with adjacent/opposite municipalities through the proper Sanggunian processes or other bodies, and enact ordinances setting forth the extent of municipal waters incorporating NAMRIA maps/charts and technical descriptions.
Requests may be made by (1) a city or municipality individually or jointly with adjacent/other cities/municipalities sharing common boundaries via a Sanggunian resolution; (2) a province on behalf of coastal municipalities via Sanggunian Panlalawigan resolution; or (3) a national government agency on behalf of a city/municipality via a formal letter/request signed by the agency head, but only with conformity of affected LGUs expressed through attached Sanggunian resolutions.
A list of known/named islands and their maps under the municipality’s jurisdiction and a copy of the legislation/proclamation creating the municipality or city.
After NAMRIA submits preliminary delineation/delimitation with technical description, the requesting LGU must publish the map/chart (posting, dissemination to barangays, and furnishing copies to affected cities/municipalities), then conduct public hearing/consultation to receive comments/objections. NAMRIA must be present to document and consider inputs.
If the coastline is not deeply indented/cut into and has no outlying/fringing islands, reefs, or rocks, normal baseline is the low water line. The outer limits are determined by a line parallel to the normal baseline fifteen (15) kilometers therefrom.
Outermost points may be connected by straight baselines if coastline is deeply indented and/or has outlying/fringing reefs/rocks, provided the length of such baselines does not exceed thirty (30) kilometers. Reefs/rocks/cays/shoals/sandbars submerged during high tide cannot be used as basepoints and cannot have their own coastlines.
Outermost points of the islands are used as basepoints and connected by municipal archipelagic baselines, provided the baseline length does not exceed thirty (30) kilometers. Islands/islets more than thirty (30) kilometers from the mainland have their own separate coastlines; features submerged during high tide are not used as basepoints and do not have their own coastlines.
If the general coastline is not curved/irregular at the coastal terminal point, the lateral boundary is a line perpendicular to the general coastline at that terminal point. If perpendicular cannot be determined due to curvature/irregularity, either simplified bisection (angle bisector of perpendicular lines from both sides at the terminal point) or equidistance line method is used.
By the median or equidistance line between the general coastlines of the respective municipalities, using the baselines determined under the guidelines.
They jointly submit the issue to NAMRIA for decision if differences remain irreconcilable. NAMRIA must inform municipalities within thirty (30) days from submission. If disputes go beyond technical guideline application and a case is pending in another forum, NAMRIA may set temporary municipal water boundaries without considering contested features, subject to the outcome and affected municipalities’ agreement.
Technical description is deemed final only after approval by the concerned LGU through a final and executory ordinance embodying the boundaries. NAMRIA first certifies/approves revised maps/charts/technical descriptions; then the LGU must enact an ordinance incorporating them without amendments to the NAMRIA-approved maps/charts/technical descriptions.