Navy monitoring Philippine Rise after sighting of Chinese research vessels

The Philippine Navy (PN) assured the public that it is monitoring the Philippine Rise (formerly Benham Rise) in the eastern seaboard of the country after two Chinese research vessels were reportedly spotted in the resource-rich waters recently.

Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad, PN spokesperson for West Philippine Sea, said the navy has sufficient capability development plans to uphold the country’s territorial integrity in the Philippine Rise.

“For now, our monitoring and surveillance in the area is almost 24/7. Although we cannot establish our presence there yet because it is a bit farther and more remote compared to our detachments in the West Philippine Sea, we have enough capability development plans for that area,” Trinidad said in a radio interview over dzBB on Sunday, March 3.

He said the navy has scheduled an air surveillance flight over the Philippine Rise to determine the status of the area and confirm whether there remains the presence of foreign vessels there.

Last Friday, March 1, American maritime security analyst Ray Powell posted satellite images on X (formerly Twitter) of Chinese research vessels he identified as “Haiyang Dizhi Liuhao” and “Haiyang Dizhi Shihao” while they were sailing across east southeast of Luzon Strait.

The two vessels, according to the retired US Air Force officer, left port at Longxue Island in Guangzhou on February 26 and were spotted “loitering” in the northeast corner of the Philippine Rise in the east of Luzon, inside the Philippines’ 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

The navy was supposed to launch an air surveillance flight through the Naval Forces Northern Luzon to confirm the sighting but the bad weather prompted authorities to postpone it, according to Trinidad.

“Now, we will attempt another flight as the weather already improved although we have monitored those vessels as of 3 p.m. yesterday [Saturday, March 2] and they were already outside of our EEZ,” he added.

The Philippine Rise is approximately a 24 million-hectare undersea region on the east of Luzon. It includes a 13.4 million-hectare outer section that was validated by the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf as part of the Philippine territory in 2012. It is about 3,000 to 3,500 meters deep covering the vast coasts off as far as Cagayan to Catanduanes provinces.

Philippine Rise is home to rare corals and hundreds of species of marine creatures. Its diverse ecosystem attracts and serves as a spawning ground and nursery of migratory fishes.

Formerly known as the Benham Rise, it was renamed as the Philippine Rise in May 2017 in exercise of the country’s sovereign rights and jurisdiction. — Martin Sadongdong