Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce said the Senate should not bother enacting the maritime zones measure since the country's territory has long been defined under the Baselines Law.

Enrile was reacting to reports that the Senate is consolidating eight proposed measures seeking to define the maritime zones of the Philippines that the legislators said should strengthen the country's claim in the West Philippine Sea, but which would merely duplicate a 2009 law.

Senator Francis Tolentino, the Special Committee on Philippine Maritime and Admiralty Zones chairperson, had said that a new Philippine map, with its specified maritime zones, would be included in the proposed mandate.

"We will be sending a copy of the measure to the UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) Secretariat (and) the United Nations for their recognition as well. But again, the other countries supporting us would also support our claim based on our new Maritime Zone Law," he said.

The Baselines Law is already in the hands of international bodies.

The proposed measure, Tolentino said, would also specify the sea lanes, air routes, and natural resources within the country's exclusive economic zone.

"Once crafted into law, this will be part of our argument that China should abide by UNCLOS because the progeny of UNCLOS is the Maritime Zone Law. So this will fortify our claim," he said.

The process, however, is redundant since "we already have the Baselines Law," Enrile indicated on his weekly program Bayan ni Juan.

"We applied the principle of archipelagic waters consisting of Amianan island in the north and Sibutu in the east, and you have a 12-mile limit from the baseline that is considered part of Philippine waters where Filipinos can fish," he explained.

So they don't have to craft another law since the law already exists; it was enacted during the term of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, according to Enrile.

He added that the nine-dash line of China did not cover those areas under the law since China respected it.