The Senate foreign relations committee on Thursday accelerated its hybrid hearing and went into closed-door meeting.
The reason is the sensitive nature of Senate Bill 1968 which seeks to establish the archipelagic sea lanes of the Philippines,
Like her younger brother, former Senator Ferdinand ‘’Bongbong’’ R. Marcos, Senator Imee Marcos filed a similar bill that foreign relations analysts described as ‘’sensitive and urgent.’’
Aside from foreign ships, aircraft and submarines passing through Philippine waters, even commercial ships could conduct espionage activities.
The decision by Senator Aquilino Pimentel III, chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, to accelerate his hybrid committee was a fear expressed foreign relations experts that the measure should be passed post haste by Congress as it is scheduled to suspend its session for the Holy Week starting March 27.
Regular session resumes May 17.
Another reason for the Executive Session was Senator Francis Tolentino’s request that Marcos’ bill should state that the country’s eastern baseline in the Pacific be drawn from the Ilocos region to Catanduanes which the country’s extended continental shelf.
This will encompass the 13-million hectare Benham Rise, also known as Philippine Rise.
The governing body over the Rise, computed as containing 50,000 square miles of undersea territory with undersea natural resources, is the Philippines and it was recognized by the United Nations in 2012.
Tolentino said the importance of Benham Rise might be realized in 60 to 70 years from now as it is slowly rising by 15 lineal meters.
It is some 250 kilometers east of Dinapigue, Isabela. It is within the Philippine Sea.
China still refuses to honor a 2016 decision of a United Nations Arbitration court rejecting its ‘’historical’’ territorial claim over most parts of the South China Sea.
The same UN ruling favored the Philippine claim over the West Philippine Sea.
In 2015, China submitted to the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) a proposal to rename undersea features in Benham Rise.
The Philippines' National Mapping and Resources Information Authority (NAMRIA) submitted names for 16 undersea features during the IHO's Sub-committee on Undersea Feature Names (SCUFN) meeting on Oct. 25, 2018 in New Zealand.
Manila's protest, however, came a few years too late as Beijing's proposals to rename undersea features in the area were submitted to the SCUFN as early as 2015.