Benham Rise renamed Philippine Rise
It’s official. The Benham Rise, a 24million hectare undersea region located northeast of Luzon, has been renamed Philippine Rise to assert the country’s ownership of the controversial territory.
In Executive Order No. 25, President Duterte authorized the name change of the undersea plateau in official Philippine maps and directed the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to inform concerned international organizations about it.
“The undersea feature presently known as ‘Benham Rise’ in local and international maps and charts shall henceforth be referred to as the ‘Philippine Rise,’” the order read.
“In the exercise of its sovereign rights and jurisdiction, the Philippines has the power to designate its submarine areas with appropriate nomenclature for purposes of the national mapping system,” it added.
EO 25 stated that the undersea region, previously known as Benham Rise, is located within the Philippine exclusive economic zone and continental shelf. The area is also subject to the sovereign rights and jurisdiction of the Philippines pursuant to the Constitution, national legislation, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
In the latest presidential order, the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (Namria) has been directed to produce new maps and charts bearing the name “Philippine Rise” to describe the undersea landmass.
All government agencies have also been directed to use the new name in all official documents in referring to the region.
“The Philippine government, through the Department of Foreign Affairs, in consultation with Namria and other relevant government agencies, shall transmit the appropriate notifications to the concerned international organizations consistently with this Order,” EO read.
Any cost on the implementation of EO 25 would be subject to the available funds of the DFA and other concerned government agencies.
The order, signed by the President last May 16, was released to the public yesterday.
The undersea plateau located off the coast of Aurora province was originally named after American geologist Andrew Benham who surveyed the area back in the 1930s.
The territory was put on the spotlight after defense authorities spotted Chinese ships sailing the resource-rich undersea plateau. The foreign vessels reportedly crisscrossed the Benham Rise waters from July to December last year.
The President later revealed that he allowed Chinese marine research ships to pass through the area as part of the right to innocent passage. China then assured Duterte that it would not claim Benham Rise, recognizing Manila’s ownership of the underwater area.