Cartoon illustrated by Keanu Liang
The Filipinos’ nationalism – and ignorance combined – got triggered again at the expense of Duterte administration over the decision of what appeared to be a front stab, allowing the Chinese scientists to explore and do research around Benham Rise, now known as the Philippine Rise, a 13-million-hectare undersea region in the northeast of the Philippines.
To give a brief history, the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (UNCLCS) declared Benham Rise as part of the Philippine’s extended continental shelf in 2009. Lying within the depths of Western Pacific Ocean and Philippine Sea, Benham Rise is a submerged, extinct volcanic ridge – way different from the territory we claim and occupy in the West Philippine Sea. It was first explored by the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute (UPMSI).
The Philippines has the sovereign rights with the said ridge and the continental shelf, but not the sovereignty, which means that it cannot be considered as part of the Philippine territory. However, since UNCLCS approved the Philippines claim over the region, it gives the country the sovereign rights for the purpose of “exploring it and exploiting its natural resources,” based on the Article 77 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Moreover, having the sovereign rights gives the Philippines the exclusive authority to give permission to foreign explorations.
Where is this concern coming from? It was in 2017 when the Department of Defense (DFA) revealed that China has shown interest in the ridge after spotting Chinese ships surveying the area without permission in 2016. Needless to say, Philippine Rise, a largely unexplored underwater region, is believed to be rich in seabed resources like natural gas, heavy metals, and is home to many aquatic species. I will let you do the math.
While other countries can emphasize their right to freedom of navigation, China plays the game ‘a bit different’ as they are the state that rejects the UNCLOS-based arbitration ruling over South China Sea claims and builds military bases in territories within our zone like the Spratly Islands. Thus, a Maritime Scientific Research agreement with China is in hot waters mainly because of the fact that the country has a history of aggressively claiming its adjacent marine territories to which they believed as the best way to defend themselves from potential threats.
The partnership between Institute of Oceanology of Chinese Academy of Sciences and the UPMSI which aims to study the ocean currents, velocity variations, depths, and its water properties is asserted to be beneficial in our part, at least based on UPMSIs issued statement. They also said that the collaborative research with China is just one of the numerous similar arrangements the institute had in the past years.
Why is there a need for international partnerships when we can do it on our own? Why China? Several lawmakers like Bayan Muna representative Carlo Zagarte expressed its concern over the issue, saying that Filipino marine geologists and biologists have already produced academic papers and come up with good findings similar to the said research. They said the government does not have to rely on China to study the now called Philippine Rise. The superpower’s interest to explore around the area was rejected for a couple of times because of not meeting the requirements, but this time, it seems like they got the right formula — putting one Filipino scientist to do onboard monitoring during the course of the exploration.
“If we are to study recent history of Chinese marine studies, like the Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking (JMSU) during the Arroyo administration, it can be seen that it is China that rakes in most of the benefits. In contrast, what we got are just useless blurry pictures,” Magdalo representative Gary Alejano said.
Partnership, in every sense of the word, entails trust. Thus, in the midst of heated arguments over China’s claim in some regions the Philippine territory that stirred trust issues to many, it is less than surprising to see Filipinos taking the government’s decision negatively.
Let us just hope that all ends well with the research, and not be considered as a security goal towards another territorial dispute. We cannot just let this issue die down and let China had its way of cementing its claim over our many marine territories. Otherwise, we might just wake up seeing Chinese ships having surveillance on Manila Bay.
–Loreto Elinon
The Oculus 
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