Palace: Other countries welcome to explore Benham Rise, too

It’s not just China.

Other countries are also welcome to explore the Philippine Rise (Benham Rise), Malacañang said on Thursday.

At a briefing in Legazpi City, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said scientific expeditions should know no nationalities.

But Roque clarified that any scientific research in the Philippine Rise should involve Filipino scientists. Results of the expeditions should also be shared with the Philippine government.

“And that is why all countries that would want to conduct joint research with us in this extended continental shelf are welcome to do so. We have in fact established guidelines on which of these requests can be approved,” he said.

“And the requirement is that Philippine scientists must also participate in the scientific exercise and that the results must be shared with Philippine authorities,” he said.

Magdalo party-list Representative Gary Alejano last week revealed that the Department of Foreign Affairs granted the request of the Institute of Oceanology of Chinese Academy of Sciences (IO-CAS) for a marine scientific research (MSR) in waters off eastern Luzon, where the Philippine Rise is located, and eastern Mindanao.

Alejano said the Chinese research group will be joined by a team from the University of the Philippines-Marine Science Institute (UP-MSI) to comply with a government requirement.

Formerly known as the Benham Rise, the undersea region is located east of Luzon is part of the Philippines’ continental shelf. The United Nations in 2012 gave the country exclusive sovereign rights over the rise, believed to be rich in minerals and gas.

Roque then said that China’s research in Philippine Rise is legal if the government gave its consent.

Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio on Monday said it would be "dumb" if the Philippine government would allow the request of China to explore the region, pointing out how it “squatted on the West Philippine Sea.”

But Roque at a previous briefing dismissed Carpio’s concerns.

“I do not know the relevance really of the arbitral decision to Benham Rise because that’s not part of the controversy. So, to even confuse the arbitral decision with Benham Rise is wrong. It has never been contested. It was awarded to us by the UN Commission on the Extended Continental Shelf,” he said. — RSJ, GMA News