Matapos maglabas ng bagong “10-dash line” map ang China, ano ang pwedeng gawin ng Pilipinas para tablahin ang pang-aangkin nito sa halos buong South China Sea? Pakinggan ang mga suhestiyon ni Dr. Chester Cabalza, dito sa episode ng #WhatTheFPodcast.
Silent No More PH published fake news on Nov. 14, attributing a fabricated quote to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who supposedly declared the Benham Rise and the "entire eastern Philippine sea" as Chinese territory.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque announced last week that President Duterte’s State of the Nation address on July 23 will follow a new format where he will be talking to the people on matters close to his heart.
China builds a monument on Kagitingan Reef that the Philippines claims as part of its territory in South China Sea and President Duterte announces he will sail to Benham Rise, an underwater plateau east of Luzon that has been declared part of the country’s extended continental shelf, to show the world that he is willing to die for a land mass that is not even part of Philippine territory.
Demanding transparency from the government, experts have warned of China’s possible “hidden agenda” after it was granted permission to conduct marine scientific research in the Benham Rise renamed Philippine Rise.
The decision of the Duterte government to allow Chinese scientists to do research in Benham Rise, renamed Philippine Rise, a 13-million-hectare undersea region off the provinces of Isabela and Aurora has generated heated discussions layered with patriotism, nationalism, ignorance, sinophobia – all combined.
The latest issue on Philippine Rise, formerly known as Benham Rise, focused on Senior Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio’s statement that China should not be allowed to conduct marine scientific research in Philippine Rise which the United Nations Commission on the Law of the Sea has recognized as part of the Philippine extended continental shelf (350 nautical miles from the shore).
Perhaps, the Duterte government can now take the lead in defining a more appropriate direction on the South China Sea situation to erase the “silence of the lambs” stigma.
Benham Rise, a 13-million-hectare undersea region off the provinces of Isabela and Aurora which the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) approved in 2009 as part of the Philippine’s extended continental shelf (350 nautical miles from the shores), came into the consciousness of many Filipinos recently with Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenza disclosed early March that Chinese ships had been spotted in the area last year for about three months.
The notes of Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio on Benham Rise is very useful as the 13-million-hectare undersea region east of Luzon is in the news with the disclosure last week by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana that Chinese survey ships have been spotted in the area last year.
