Navy sends ship to patrol Benham

Defense Secretary Delfin T. Lorenzana said yesterday that sovereignty patrols will be conducted in Benham Rise after a Chinese ship was spotted in the maritime area for three months last year.

Lorenzana said that he has instructed the Philippine Navy to conduct the patrols to guard the area which is rich in mineral resources.

“The Navy will henceforth regularly patrol Benham Rise partly due to past Chinese activities there but more importantly because it is part of our continental shelf and awarded to us by the United Nations,” Lorenzana said. “Our next activity is to have the area surveyed to clearly determine its limits, depths, coral formations, etc.,” he added.

A military source said that the Philippine Navy ship BRP Ramon Alcaraz has been deployed to patrol Benham Rise. The source, however, refused to say when the ship was sent to the area.

The Armed Forces had earlier deployed the Philippine Navy oceanographic and hydrographic survey ship BRP Gregorio Velasquez to survey and map the 13-million hectare Benham Rise located east of Aurora and Isabela.

AFP spokesman Air Force Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said that the initial mapping and survey were conducted by a team of researchers and academicians from the University of the Philippines Maritime Science Institute and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and Oceana.

Padilla said the team was able to conduct an initial cataloging and indexing of marine life in Benham Rise which officially became part of Philippine territory after the United Nations formally awarded it to the country in 2012.