A TOP security official on Wednesday recommended the procurement and use of satellites to better monitor marine activity in Benham Rise, an undersea region 250 kilometers east of the northern coastline of Dinapigue, Isabela.
“When you have an exclusive economic zone [EEZ] that is as big as what we have, then we would require… awareness of everything that’s going on there,” National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon said during a Senate panel hearing on the proposed creation of a Benham Rise Development Authority.
Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Philippines has the exclusive right to over 200 nautical miles off its coast.
“We have our Nomad [planes] which are giving us some good pictures but we don’t even have satellites. We are one big country with a big EEZ that doesn’t have image satellites much [less] communication satellites,” he added.
Esperon said the government should build up those capabilities to have a better view and management of Philippine resources.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Committee on Economic Affairs, agreed with Esperon, noting that it is important to use such technologies to determine what a Chinese survey ship was doing when it was seen plying Benham Rise for around three months last year.
The Chinese Embassy maintained that they simply passed by international waters and that they had the right of freedom of navigation.
“We lack technology and equipment. The security adviser recommended the use of satellites to know not just the direction of the ship but also what the ship is doing,” Gatchalian said.
Gatchalian pointed out that while the government did have technology to find out where the ship is, it did not have technology to find out what the ship is doing.
“I think what we need to know right now is what the [Chinese] ship exactly did,” he added.
The senator also pointed out that because President Rodrigo Duterte is the country’s chief policy maker, agencies had to synchronize their policies with the President’s views.
“We clarified from the Department of Foreign Affairs what are the process and protocols. They need to synchronize this with the policy of the President. The President is our chief policy maker and from that policy emanates the process,” he said.
Benham Rise became part of the Philippines in 2012 when the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf ruled that the area fell under the country’s exclusive economic zone.
At the Senate, Esperon said there was no threat from any country over the Philippines’ claim to Benham Rise.
He noted that the Chinese foreign ministry had recognized the country’s soveright rights over the area.
He said foreign ships may pass through Benham Rise as provided by their freedom of navigation and innocent passage, but they may not exploit the resources in the country;s seabed.
He also said the security cluster of the Cabinet was set to discuss reports that a drone was spotted over Benham Rise.
He also said the drone spotted by the Philippine Navy’s BRP Ramon Alcaraz is “not necessarily unfriendly.”
Senator Juan Edgardo Angara said the administration must protect the nation’s marine wealth, including Benham Rise.
“We must ensure that the enjoyment of the benefits of Benham Rise accrue to our citizens in the swiftest manner,” Angara said.
Since the Philippines was awarded sovereign rights over the area, it is imperative that the country have an inventory of the untapped resources that it’s safeguarding or protecting.
He said this would entail a level of research and development that is pursued in a concerted and efficient manner.
He pointed out the UN ruling does not preclude the country to conduct joint ventures if they are perceived to be advantageous for the country.
In 2012, the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf ruled that under the Unclos, Benham Rise is part of the Philippines’extended continental shelf.
With the ruling, the Philippines has the sovereign rights in exploring and exploiting the natural resources of Benham Rise, which is believed to be rich in natural gas. These rights are exclusive in the sense that no other country may undertake such activities without Philippines’ express consent.
Estimated to be a much larger landmass than Luzon, it is a natural breeding ground and habitat for marine species”•making it a prime fishing spot.
In the same hearing, Maria Lourdes Montero, acting executive director and officer-in-charge of the Maritime and Ocean Affairs Office under the DFA, said China has made at least two requests in 2015 and 2016 to conduct marine scientific research in Benham Rise, both of which were denied.
“In the past, we have received applications from marine scientific research in that area from China and we have consulted the technical agencies,” Montero told the joint hearing by the Senate committees on finance and economic affairs.
“And so far, with respect to the request referring to the Benham Rise area we have received in 2016 and 2015, this request has been denied based on the consensus of the agencies involved,” she added.
In past interviews, President Rodrigo Duterte claimed that he agreed to allow Chinese survey ships into Philippine waters.
Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose admitted that the agency do not know anything about Duterte’s action granting permit to the Chinese research ship.
China earlier admitted that Chinese vessels for marine research were present at Benham Rise but did not do anything but “to exercise their right to freedom of navigation.”
Maritime expert and University of the Philippine professor Jay Batongbacal said if China is undertaking maritime scientific research, then it must share all its findings with the Philippines.
On Wednesday, Duterte said former President Benigno Aquino III gained the ire of Chinese President Xi Jinping after he brought Beijing to court over a dispute involving the South China Sea, parts of which Manila claims.
Saying that the Philippines won’t abandon its claims in the disputed territories in the South China Sea, Duterte recounted his first meeting with the Chinese leader, saying that there had been bad blood between Xi and Aquino. With John Paolo Bencito, Sara Susanne D. Fabunan, PNA
