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[av_heading heading=’Palace: Benham Rise belongs to the Filipino people’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
By Prince Golez, Manila Reporter
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Wednesday, March 15, 2017
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MANILA – The Malacañang on Tuesday asserted the country’s ownership of Benham Rise.
Benham Rise is a 13-million hectare territory off the coast of Aurora province believed to have rich oil and gas deposits.
“Benham Rise belongs to the Filipino people,” presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said yesterday.
Abella, however, said the government will continue to pursue diplomatic talks with the People’s Republic of China.
“The Philippine government is duty-bound to defend and protect our sovereign and territorial rights over this region,” the official said in a press conference.
Secretary of National Defense Delfin Lorenzana had raised alarm that a Chinese survey ship has been spotted in Benham Rise.
Satellite images showed that Chinese vessels already plied the territory last year, added Lorenzana.
He also directed the military to increase its presence in the undersea region.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang, for his part, said the passage of the Chinese vessels was only exercising the principle of “freedom of navigation” and the “right to innocent passage.”
Relatedly, Sen. Sonny Angara is pushing for the creation of the Benham Rise Development Authority, which aims to accelerate its development as rich source of alternative energy, marine resources, and tourism destination.
“It’s been five years since the United Nations (UN) approved our territorial claim, and yet Benham Rise remains largely unexplored. There is a pressing need to scale up and sustain the scientific study and exploration of the undersea region in light of such unauthorized incursion in our territory,” Angara said.
In 2012, the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf ruled that Benham Rise is part of the country’s exclusive economic zone under the UN Convention on the Law and the Sea./PN
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