Roselle May Advincula

The Benham Rise: Facts and Issues In 2017, a maritime area called “Benham Rise” made rounds in the local media. It was a time when China’s claim over the Scarborough Shoal was intensely brewing angered opposition from the Filipinos. That same year in March, news reports claimed that China have also shown interest to another Philippine coastal feature—the Benham Rise. In the reports, it was revealed that Chinese ships have been seen surveying the area early 2016, and what the Chinese excused as an “innocent passage” lasted for about three months. With the conflict about the West Philippine Sea still raging, this revelation caused a national uproar. The Name Benham Rise Let’s go back to the pre-colonial period. Some hundred years ago, a fishing area off Luzon island is known to the inhabitants of Catanduanes as Kalipung-Awan. A Bicolano term for “loneliness in an isolated place”, the name is fitting description to the loneliness fishermen feel whenever they sail towards and around the area due to the vast blue waters that then were rarely visited by those outside of Catanduanes. Fast forward to 1933, an American geologist named Andrew Benham led a mapping around the area, hence the name Benham Rise was coined. But what exactly is the Benham Rise? Benham Rise is a submerged plateau believed to be an extinct volcanic ridge formed by an underwater volcano that was active around 40 million years ago. The plateau is comprised of basalt, a common volcanic rock. Benham Rise is around 13 million hectare in size, a quarter larger than Luzon, the biggest island in the country measuring at 10.5 miles. It is located in the east of Luzon sea board, 185 kilometers from the island and facing the Pacific Ocean off the provinces of Aurora and Isabela. The plateau is about 3,000 meters deep from the sea surface with an ocean floor of about 5,000 meters deep. It’s shallowest part, a protrusion and what can be considered as its “summit” called the Benham Bank is around 50 meters deep from the sea surface. Benham Bank was first reached by Filipino scientist in May of 2014 through the Department of Science and Technology's Benham Rise Program. The exploration started after two years of preparation and lasted for about ten days, with researchers diving every other day. Even with the said research, a huge region of the Benham Rise still remains unexplored. They barely scratched the surface. But local researchers and government organizations alike believe it to be a potential source of minerals, natural gas and possibly oil; and home to different species of marine life. During the 2014 exploration, they discovered that the shallowest portion of the rise has “extensive” corals, but surprisingly less fish. Dr. Cesar Villanoy, leader of the said expedition, mentioned that the area is definitely unique compared to other ocean portions he has explored. In another report made by AFP Defense Researcher Rowena Tatad, it was discovered that the Benham Bank has traces of minerals like methane hydrate, prompting the area’s potential as an energy source. A more extensive exploration led by Oceana and joined by marine scientists from the Bureau of Fisheries And Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and University of the Philippines was done in 2016. In their expedition, they discovered that the seamount is home to at least 200 species of fish (three times more than the 50 discovered in the 2014 expedition) including different kinds of tuna, and what could be the Philippine’s last frontier of diverse corals. Because of its bio marine potential and the role it could play in the country’s food security and exportation economy, the government was urged to conduct more studies within the rise. In 2019, a group of marine scientists including New-Zealand based Filipina researcher Jenny Barretto discovered a caldera within the area of the Benham Rise. A caldera is formed when a volcano collapses on its mouth after a magma eruption, forming a massive crater or depression in its surface. The caldera is named Apolaki which means “big god”, derived from the Filipino mythical god of sun and war. Apolaki Caldera may be the world’s largest known caldera, measuring 150 km in diameter, more than twice the size of the famous Yellowstone Caldera in Wyoming. For local reference, it is as large as the distance between Quezon City and Tarlac. It’s so huge it can fit around seven Taal Lakes within it. Rock samples in the igneous crater suggests volcano activity of about 47 to 26 million years ago. The circular depression located at the central part of the Benham Rise is surrounded by a crest with slopes ranging from 100 to 300 meters high. In the scientists’ published study, Apolaki Caldera’s size was compared to Olympus Mons, a shield caldera found in Mars that measures at 80 km by 65 km and to Venus’ Sacajawea which is 150 km by 105 km. While traces of nickel, chromite and manganese were found in the underwater crater, PHILVOLCS director Renato Solidum said it will be impossible to find sources of oil in the area. Upon the discovery of the Apolaki Caldera, the Philippine government started to consider extensive studies of the area. Its potential as a hydrothermal energy source might be the motivation behind the government’s intent. Philippine’s claim over Benham Rise The government of the Philippines did not claim Benham Rise until 2008. In April of the following year, they submitted an official claim to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (UNCLCS). It took three years before the United Nations approved the Philippine’s official request. In April 2012, the UN finally announced that the Benham Rise is part of the Philippine’s extended continental shelf. By definition in UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), a continental shelf pertains to the seabed and subsoil of underwater areas 200 nautical miles from a state’s baseline, while an extended continental shelf covers another 150 nm. On May 16, 2017, President Rodrigo Duterte signed the Executive Order No. 25 that officially changed the name of Benham Rise to Philippine Rise. Exactly one year after that, on May 15, 2018, the president issued a presidential proclamation declaring a portion of the Philippine Rise as a Philippine marine resource reserve, under RA 7586 or the National Integrated Protected Areas System Act of 1992. And there’s China. Again. In 2016, Chinese vessels where spotted around the area of Benham Rise. They claimed they were just passing by, but a year later, it was confirmed by the Philippine government that the said “passage” lasted for about three months. The national uproar over this incident is not unsurprising. The Philippines is still in a grueling conflict with China over Scarborough Shoal and a possible threat over another territory aroused patriotic opposition from the government and citizens alike. China’s foreign ministry, however, stood their ground and reiterated that they have no interest in challenging the Philippines’ right over Benham Rise and fully respects that the underwater region is within the Philippines’ continental shelf. Despite the restless tension between the Philippine and China and the Filipino’s protests over explorations conducted by the latter, in January of 2018, the Philippine government has decided to allow the Oceanalogy of Chinese Academy of Sciences to conduct a research within the Benham rise, in the condition that their researchers would be accompanied by representatives from the University of the Philippines marine Science Institute. Less than a month after that, in early February of 2018, President Duterte announces the ban of all foreign research within the Benham Rise. He was quoted saying, “Let me be very clear about this: the Philippine Rise is ours and any insinuation that it is open to everybody should end with this declaration,”  But in what might be a frustrating coincidence, on that same month, reports that China has succeeded in naming five undersea features of the Benham Rise were published. It was revealed then, that the Chinese has submitted applications to name the underwater features to the IHO (International Hydrographic Organization) on 2014. It was for the three features that they apparently “discovered” during an exploration in 2004. Two years later, they submitted another application for two more features they said they discovered on that same exploration. Their proposals were approved by the IHO, successfully naming five features as Jinghao Seamount and Tianbao Seamount that are located 70 nm from east of Cagayan, Haidonquing Seamount located 190 nm also east of Cagayan, and Cuiqiao Hill and Jujiu Seamount which are the central peaks in the Benham Rise. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said they did not break any rules as according to IHO regulation, any individual and countries “may submit naming proposals on the unnamed undersea features which are twelve nautical miles away from the littoral states" The Philippines moved to counter these claims in early 2018, but the government’s proposals were rejected by the organization. The government has once again tried to submit proposals on October 25, 2018 during IHO's Sub-committee on Undersea Feature Names (SCUFN) meeting in New Zealand.