THE Senate is poised to push for increased naval presence in the country’s eastern seaboard—from Isabela to Aurora—in the wake of a controversial three-month foray by a Chinese ship in the resource-rich Benham Rise that is part of the Philippine continental shelf, Sen. Sherwin T. Gatchalian disclosed.
Gatchalian, who spearheaded last week’s joint Senate inquiry into the incident, said his Committee on Economic Affairs is also crafting remedial legislation for the government to “invest more on research and exploration” in the 4-million-hectare Benham Rise area that is believed to be rich in methane-gas hydrates.
In addition, Gatchalian said the committee would also prod the Senate to “review apparent gaps” between the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) and Philippine laws, particularly on the definition and scope of maritime research.
While there are no other claimants to Benham Rise, China, invoking freedom of navigation, had deployed what it claimed to be a research vessel in the area for three months, from late October to January 2017.
At the hearing of the Gatchalian-led inquiry last week, Executive Department officials confirmed Beijing had twice sought permission to deploy research ships but the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) turned this down, because China did not abide by Manila’s condition that the research mission should involve Filipino scientists.
Apparently, the October-to-January Chinese mission was carried out without permission, or a by-your-leave.
“What was established at the initial inquiry was that China had claimed it was exercising freedom of navigation,” Gatchalian told the BusinessMirror.
“In terms of direction, it was exercising freedom of navigation but we also established it was undertaking research.”
He recalled that “during the hearing, there were also inconsistencies found between Unclos and our laws”, pointing out, for instance, that the term “maritime research is very broad and needs to be defined.”
“If it involved basic research, what does that cover?” he asked, adding the invocation of “marine-science research” should also be clarified, because, strictly speaking, marine- science research, as differentiated from basic research, requires the presence of Filipino scientists.
“If they were undertaking basic research, there was no need for a permit; but marine-science research requires it.”
Gatchalian added the committee is still expecting a report on the DFA’s communication with China regarding the incident, saying the “note verbale will clear up everything.”
He earlier sought to allay concerns over the reported Benham Rise intrusions, even as he pointed out that “there are no other claimants” to the resource-rich area.
He admitted that prior to last week’s hearing, initial information reaching the Senate was “incomplete, because it [Chinese ship] did stay there for quite some time, and it did criss-cross, so it was probably conducting some form of research.”
Gatchalian conceded, however, that such maritime research by foreign vessels in Philippine territory was not outright illegal.
“It was probably conducting some form of research. But, if it is conducting very basically, for example, water salinity, temperature, I think that is allowed under Unclos,” he added.
Image credits: Malacañang Photo