By Vanne Elaine P. Terrazola
Chinese researchers were allowed to explore the Philippine Rise, also known as the Benham Rise, without the presence of their Filipino counterparts.
The Senate Committee on Science and Technology learned this yesterday at the start of its investigation on the status of Filipino maritime programs in the resource-rich underwater plateau.
The University of the Philippines-Maritime Science Institute admitted leaving Chinese researchers to explore the Philippine Rise even as their permit required the presence of Filipino contingents while conducting their study in January this year.
UP-MSI Director Dr. Fernando Siringan said they have not completed the cruise with explorers from the Institute of Oceanology-Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Cesar Villanoy, a faculty member of the UP-MSI, told committee chairman Sen. Bam Aquino this was because the IOCAS required that they board the ship from China and from there, travel non-stop to Philippine waters, and the rest of the study period, which he said was scheduled for one month.
He said this was “too long” for local contingents since the research concerning the jurisdiction of the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone would only take six days.
