President Rodrigo Duterte will visit Benham Rise from May 15 to 16 and lead the commemoration of its renaming to Philippine Rise, Malacañang confirmed on on Tuesday, May 8.
“The president will be commemorating the renaming of Benham Rise to Philippine Rise by visiting the Philippine Rise itself; and this is on May 15 to 16,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a Palace press briefing.
Roque also said Duterte’s visit will launch the start of scientific research to be conducted by an all-Filipino team composed of 50 scientists.
“So the event will be attended by the 50 scientists whom the president will be sending off, as they start their scientific researches in Philippine Rise,” he said.
Duterte signed Executive Order No. 25 changing the name of the undersea feature to Philippine Rise on May 16, 2017.
The EO 25 stated that “The Benham Rise Region is subject to sovereign rights and jurisdiction of the Philippines pursuant to relevant provisions of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, national legislation, and the UNCLOS and applicable international law.”
The United Nations approved the Philippines’ claim that the Philippine Rise is within the country’s 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone through recommendations of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) in 2012. With the ruling, the country was granted “sovereign rights” over Benham Rise, meaning the Philippines has the exclusive rights to explore and exploit resources there.
Duterte on April 26, 2018 announced he will sail to to Benham Rise to “make a statement there that nobody but nobody owns this place including the continental shelf, the underground land mass that extends under the sea”.
The president earlier issued an order that all international researchers are required to to secure permission from the Philippine government first if they wish to conduct studies on Philippine Rise.
This was a result of the heavy backlash against the government for allowing China to explore the area despite its dispute with the Philippines over the South China Sea, resource-rich waters on the archipelago’s west coast.
Duterte also said Filipino researchers will be given priority in exploring the 13-million hectare undersea plateau off Aurora province.
