Navy: 2 Chinese vessels at Benham Rise now outside PH EEZ
Published March 3, 2024 10:04am The two Chinese vessels earlier spotted “loitering” around the Benham Rise have now departed the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, the Philippine Navy (PN) said Sunday. Interviewed on Super Radyo dzBB, PN spokesperson for West Philippine Sea Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad said that PN forces will launch an air surveillance flight […]
Tomas Kauer - News Moderator 
The two Chinese vessels earlier spotted “loitering” around the Benham Rise have now departed the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, the Philippine Navy (PN) said Sunday.
Interviewed on Super Radyo dzBB, PN spokesperson for West Philippine Sea Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad said that PN forces will launch an air surveillance flight on the resource-rich Philippine Rise, located east of Northern Luzon.
“Maga-attempt sila ulit ngayon. Bagamat kahapon ay na-monitor naman na ito’y nasa labas na ng ating EEZ, as of yesterday, alas 3 ng hapon,” Trinidad said.
(They will attempt an air surveillance flight today. Although yesterday at 3 p.m., they already monitored that the Chinese vessels were already outside our EEZ.)
It was former United States Air Force official and ex-Defense Attaché Ray Powell who disclosed that two Chinese research vessels left port at Longxue Island in Guangzhou on February 26 and moved east southeast through the Luzon Strait.
As of 1 March, he said the vessels were “loitering” east of Luzon in the Northeast corner of Benham Rise, which is within the Philippines’ EEZ.
Trinidad said the surveillance mission will determine what kind of Chinese vessels that were spotted near the Benham Rise.
He also noted that the monitoring and surveillance in the area is almost 24/7.
“‘Yung ating presence hindi pa natin naaabot ‘yan sapagkat mas malayo ito at mas remote sa karagatan compared sa West Philippine Sea na detachment natin,” he said.
(Our presence has not yet reached Benham Rise because it is farther and more remote compared to our West Philippine Sea detachments.)
“May mga kaukulang capability development plans naman tayo lalong lalo na sa Benham. Iba ang sea condition diyan sa Benhap sapagkat nakaharap sa Pacific Ocean. Ang sa West Philippine Sea, there are times na rough ang seas pero mas rough ang sa eastern seaboards,” he added.
(We have capability development plans, particularly with Benham. The sea conditions are different there because it faces the Pacific Ocean. In the West Philippine Sea, there are times when the seas are rough, but the eastern seaboards are rougher.)
Benham Rise is a volcanic plateau which is part of the country’s extended continental shelf in the Philippine Sea. According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the Philippines has “sovereign rights” in the Benham Rise, meaning other states can’t conduct any exploration and exploitation activities there without permission.—Giselle Ombay/RF, GMA Integrated News
