Philippine Sovereignty over Bajo de Masinloc
Perusal of the public record reveals that Philippine sovereignty over Bajo de Masinloc is clearly established beyond a shadow of doubt. It is the inevitable outcome of a process of consolidation of jurisdiction through acts a titre de sourverain, exercised over a specific location beginning during the Spanish colonial period and continuously exercised up until the present time. Such acts pre-date China’s uncertain claim, which can only be presumed to have been made only in 1947 at the earliest, when the Republic of China drew the original 11 dashed lines map and thereby enclosed Bajo de Masinloc. And even then it was merely a claim on paper, not preceded or accompanied by actual exercises of State power.
As demonstrated by Justice Carpio’s exhibit, ancient Chinese maps tended to ignore lands that lay beyond China’s coast: ancient Chinese cartographers did not show a whole lot of detail beyond the few names that pertained only to the largest islands in the Philippines like May-i. The absence of any mark indicating Huangyan Island, indeed of the name Huangyan Island itself, in any of these ancient maps is eloquent proof in itself. Such shortcomings in detail contrast with those of European maps of the Philippines and Southeast Asia, as geographic knowledge of the region spread in the 17th century. Bajo de Masinloc began appearing as an unnamed reef clearly associated with the island of Luzon, often almost like a smudge under the notation “Punto de Mandato” (Point of Mandate). What is important to note here is that from its initial appearance, Bajo de Masinloc is closely associated with the Philippine archipelago.
In the 18th century, maps of Southeast Asia and the Philippines indicated three distinct reefs west of Luzon, which soon acquired names in the famous Murillo Velarde map of the Philippine archipelago published in 1734. These reefs were all located on approaches to Manila, all triangular in shape but oriented differently, and from North to South, distinctly named in Tagalog as “Galit”, “Panacot”, and “Lumbay”. Subsequent maps reflected the same information, though with varied distances relative to the coast. They also acquired other names, such as Bajo de Bolinao, Bajo de Masinloc, and Bajo de Miravela, respectively. Bajo de Masinloc was also called Maroona or South Maroona in other maps. The multiple locations and different names may be understood as the result of inaccuracy of map-making at the time; indeed, until the invention of the ship-board chronometer, it was very difficult for ships to ascertain their position at sea through nothing more than the stars to guide them.
The imprecise position of the three reefs would soon be resolved, however, beginning with the grounding of a British sailing ship, the
HMS Scarborough, which was chartered by the East India Company to transport tea between China and the British East Indies. On September 12, 1748, the ship ran aground on Bajo de Masinloc. The captain’s log describes the near-tragedy that befell the
HMS Scarborough:
“At daylight, the rocks appeared frightful, though it pleased God the ship was on the sea side of the shoal, which is at least 2 leagues over and 8 long. On the east side of the shoal, the rocks are almost as high as those of Sicily, and a terrible sea breaks over them; on the west side, they are no bigger than a boat. They seemed to lie about North-Northwest and South-Southeast. I think the Scarborough was near their north end, seeing the water blue to the northward of them, and rocks were seen Southeast by South 3 leagues from the ship.”
The grounding of the
HMS Scarborough was a very significant cartographic event, as maps published after the period were soon annotated with the mishap. The reef on which it grounded appeared to be in a different location from that of either Panacot, Galit, or Lumbay, and there was some uncertainty as to whether it was actually on Panacot or South Maroona reef, and some maps portrayed it as an entirely different reef designated as “Scarborough Shoal.” There was some initial debate as to which reef the HMS Scarborough struck, but eventually it was surmised that it could only have been Panacot or Bajo de Masinloc (or South Maroona / Marsingola, as some British maps called it).
It would take a few more decades before the debate would be settled, and the coordinates of Scarborough Shoal could be fixed. In May 1792, the Malaspina Expedition, a major scientific undertaking of the time, travelled through the South China Sea and was able to ascertain the exact position of Scarborough Shoal. The expedition also verified that the other two reefs indicated in previous maps did not actually exist, and all such markings could only have referred to Scarborough Shoal. A translated extract, dated from May 4-6, 1792, from the expedition’s journal states:
“… under this supposition it will be necessary to exclude from the map of Mr. Dalrymple the shoal with that name which is located at the distance of 57 leagues from land, and to establish as the only and true Scarborough another one located in the same latitude, but nearer to it. …The exact position of this reef is very important because many vessels, national and foreign, have perished in it.”
With the position of Bajo de Masinloc ascertained, and the absence of the other two reefs confirmed, the Spanish naval squadron based in Cavite, under the command of General Alava, eventually sent the frigate
Santa Lucia led by Capitan Francisco Riquelme to carry out the first detailed Spanish survey of the shoal in the year 1800. The
Santa Lucia was among the first steam-powered vessels that Spain introduced into the Philippine Islands to embark on its campaign against the Sultan of Sulu and to suppress the Moro slave-raiding pirate bands that roamed Philippine waters. (Figure 6)
Figure . The Spanish frigate Santa Lucia, under the command of Capitan Francisco Riquelme, based in Cavite, conducted the first Spanish survey of Bajo de Masinloc in 1800. (Source: almirantecervera.com)
The summary of Capitan Riquelme’s findings soon became a fixture in the
Dorroteo del Archipielago Filipino, the Spanish pilot’s guide for mariners. An 1879 edition of the Dorroteo, translated, states:
“This low-lying reef, per Riquelme, extends more than 8 2/3 miles from North to South, and 9 1/2 miles from East to West from one end to the middle part, but from there narrowing until it ends in a tip. It is surrounded by horrible dangers that may appear without warning or other markings to serve notice of their proximity. Some rocks can be seen slightly above water only by close observation on a clear day, and only by having careful look-outs can one see the reef at a distance of 7 miles.”
A more detailed survey was conducted on March 13-18, 1866 by Master & Commander Edward Wilds on the steam-powered sloop
HMS Swallow. The summary of his findings also appear in the
Dorroteo:
“Recently in March 1866, it was explored by Lieutenant Wilds of the hydrographic ship Swallow, who describes Scarborough Shoal and says it is a dangerous reef, surrounded by large rocks, and at the South-East tip one can find a precarious anchorage only in a dead calm sea, in front of a lagoon…”
It then continues to describe the reef and its features in detail, so as to ensure the safety of navigation. The chart drawn by Lt. Wilds can be found in Justice Carpio’s exhibit as well.
