By Roy Pelovello

THE HOUSE of Representatives yesterday approved on third and final reading the baselines bill that delineates the Philippine territory, a version that contrasted with that which the Senate earlier approved.

Approved through a vote of 171-3, the House version of the Baselines Bill (HB 3261) includes within the country?s baselines the Kalayaan group of islands and the Scarborough Shoal.

The Senate version treats the Kalayaan Group and Scarborough shoal as a ?regime of islands,? a position taken by the Executive branch so as not to offend other nations that are staking claim on these islands. ?Our version includes the Kalayaan group of islands and the Scarborough?in the Senate it?s treated as a regime of islands under the Republic of the Philippines,? said Cebu Rep. Antonio Cuenco, chairman of the House committee on foreign affairs.

By declaring the Scarborough and Kalayaan as?regime of islands,? the Philippines is reserving its right to claim them as part of its territory subject to the rules of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

But Cuenco said the bicameral conference committee that would work to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the Baselines Bill should work as fast as possible.

?We have a deadline to meet with the Unclos [United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea]. The deadline is May 13 [2009] and we can?t avail of the privileges [under the international law],? Cuenco said.

HB 3216 has been pending approval of the House since December 2007 but the voting was stalled after House Speaker Prospero Nograles sought more time to talk with the Executive and the Senate.

Nograles made the move after Malacanang proposed that the Kalayaan and the Scarborough Shoal be treated as mere ?regime of islands? following Beijing?s objection to HB 3216 in a note to the Philippine embassy in Beijing in December 2007.

The note said China, one of the many claimants of the territory, was ?shocked and gravely concerned? with the inclusion of the KIG and Scarborough in the country?s baseline and requested the clarification from the Philippine side.

The Palace warned that HB 3216 will only force China not to recognize the Philippines? sovereignty and its occupation of the islands that are part of the disputed Spratlys.