‘No special treatment for China in Benham’

The United States, Japan and South Korea are among the countries already approved by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to conduct research at Benham Rise, presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. yesterday said following criticisms that the government is favoring Beijing in the research.

Citing the statement of Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, Roque said the request applications of the US, Japan and South Korea have been approved as he clarified that the current administration is not favoring China on the issue.

Roque was in a defensive mode over statements that Beijing is given special treatment by the Philippine government.

“I was referring to China when I said ‘no one has applied and no one can do it, because, apparently, it’s capital-intensive.’

I responded, and I quote: ‘Because only China has qualified so far. There are other applicants, unfortunately they did not qualify according to fixed guidelines already set by the government,’” he said.

He explained that his statement that “China has qualified so far” pertains to research guidelines imposed by the DFA on China.

“As Filipinos, we do not need consent to conduct scientific investigation in Benham Rise because it is subject to our sovereign rights which include the right to conduct scientific research. The government of the Philippines does not need, therefore, to give permits to Filipinos in this regard,” Roque said.

Since the Philippines enjoys sovereign rights to explore and exploit the resources in Benham Rise, Roque said Filipinos could conduct studies in the area.

“To reiterate, I never said that Filipinos cannot conduct research in Benham Rise,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, Sen. Nancy Binay has asked the DFA to disclose all the details of the permit it gave the Institute of Oceanology of Chinese Academy of Sciences to do a marine scientific research (MSR) at the underwater plateau off Aurora province to assure the public that the deal will not undermine the country’s sovereignty.

She noted how the DFA has been silent on the details of the permit given to the Chinese entity.

“In the interest of transparency, it would be best for the DFA to share to the public the extent of the study, research and exploration of China in Benham Rise. And since it is the DFA which approves or disapproves scientific researches in both the West and East Philippine Seas, it is only appropriate (for them to) provide a list of all Filipino and foreign-led expeditions in our waters since 2010,” she added.

If the intention is for the Chinese institute to provide scientific data about the area to the Philippine government, Binay said, then the DFA should disclose the extent of the permit it issued.

“If it does not undermine the country’s sovereignty, then I don’t see anything wrong why the DFA cannot provide us with the details of the agreement between the Philippines and China,” she said.

Binay said that details such as the location, number of vessels, offshore platforms, area and period of coverage, members of the technical team are among the information that she is interested in getting from the DFA.

All of these, she said, would help the Senate in performing its job of reviewing financial and technical assistance agreements entered into by the Philippine government.

“While nothing legally hinders joint explorations, for years, it has always been an issue of policy whether or not the government should allow foreign corporate interests or foreign governments to join the Philippines in exploring for resources,” Binay said.

She added that there is a “need to be cautious and sparing in giving approval for joint explorations.”

“We must first bear in mind the interest of the Filipino people. There could be a hidden agenda in the MSR. Our foreign partners should first acknowledge and recognize our territorial integrity and sovereignty over our waters and that’s non-negotiable,” the senator stressed.