By Genalyn Kabiling
President Duterte is planning to visit the Philippine Rise, also known as Benham Rise, next week to assert the country's ownership of the massive undersea region.
The President has bared his upcoming voyage to the Philippine Rise as he vowed to wage war in the event any foreign power tries to seize control of the Philippine territory.
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte
(TOTO LOZANO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN) "Next week, I'm going to sail, set sail, I'm going to Benham Rise and I will make a statement there that nobody but nobody owns this place including the continental shelf, the underground land mass that extends under the sea," Duterte said before an assembly of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the Philippines in Davao City last Thursday. "And if it extends to San Francisco Bay, San Francisco Bay is a property of the Republic of the Philippines," he said. The President, who has restricted foreign marine research on the Philippine Rise, said he was ready to defend the territory from those who would try to occupy and claim the area. "When the issue of Benham Rise, Philippine Rise, there were so many ships there doing explorations, and when this crucial question was asked of me 'What will do you if they also claim it?' and I said, 'I will go to war.' And I will go to war, believe me,” he said. Early this year, the President ordered a halt to the marine explorations by foreign entities in the Philippine Rise, giving priority instead to Filipino explorers. Duterte has also authorized the military to chase away foreign vessels in the Philippine Rise, insisting the area is "ours." Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque earlier said the Philippine Rise, the massive undersea region off the coast of Aurora province, remains undisputed. The area has been awarded to the Philippines by the UN Commission on the Extended Continental Shelf, he said. China recently succeeded in registering official names to five undersea features of the Philippine Rise following a maritime survey. The Chinese names were reportedly approved by the International Hydrographic Organization last year. The Philippines, however, has refused to recognize the names given by China to several undersea features of the Philippine Rise located east of Luzon. It insisted that the region, which has an area of 24 million hectares, is located with the Philippine exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte(TOTO LOZANO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN) "Next week, I'm going to sail, set sail, I'm going to Benham Rise and I will make a statement there that nobody but nobody owns this place including the continental shelf, the underground land mass that extends under the sea," Duterte said before an assembly of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the Philippines in Davao City last Thursday. "And if it extends to San Francisco Bay, San Francisco Bay is a property of the Republic of the Philippines," he said. The President, who has restricted foreign marine research on the Philippine Rise, said he was ready to defend the territory from those who would try to occupy and claim the area. "When the issue of Benham Rise, Philippine Rise, there were so many ships there doing explorations, and when this crucial question was asked of me 'What will do you if they also claim it?' and I said, 'I will go to war.' And I will go to war, believe me,” he said. Early this year, the President ordered a halt to the marine explorations by foreign entities in the Philippine Rise, giving priority instead to Filipino explorers. Duterte has also authorized the military to chase away foreign vessels in the Philippine Rise, insisting the area is "ours." Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque earlier said the Philippine Rise, the massive undersea region off the coast of Aurora province, remains undisputed. The area has been awarded to the Philippines by the UN Commission on the Extended Continental Shelf, he said. China recently succeeded in registering official names to five undersea features of the Philippine Rise following a maritime survey. The Chinese names were reportedly approved by the International Hydrographic Organization last year. The Philippines, however, has refused to recognize the names given by China to several undersea features of the Philippine Rise located east of Luzon. It insisted that the region, which has an area of 24 million hectares, is located with the Philippine exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.