Senate Deputy Minority Leader Rodante Marcoleta has warned he will file a treason case against former Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio over the 2011 ruling in Magallona v. Ermita.
The decision upheld the constitutionality of Republic Act No. 9522, which amended the country’s maritime baselines law.
Marcoleta argued that the ruling effectively reduced the Philippines’ territorial scope and surrendered 242,000 square nautical miles of what he described as internal waters.
“Desisyon niya [itong] Magallona vs. Ermita. Pumayag siya sa argumento ng gobyerno na paliitin na lang natin ang territorial sea… I [will] charge him with treason for this.”
Marcoleta maintained that although the ruling expanded the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), it allegedly came at the cost of internal waters.
The Supreme Court, however, has held that Philippine territory was not diminished but expanded—from 440,994 to 586,210 square nautical miles—through the recognition of the EEZ under international law.
The issue highlights ongoing debates on maritime sovereignty, with Marcoleta framing the decision as a territorial concession, while the Court has consistently defended it as strengthening the country’s jurisdiction over its maritime zones.