Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 16)— The government will protest the reported continuous incursions in the Philippine Rise, Malacañang assured on Wednesday.
“Pagdating po naman sa [When it comes to the] Philippine Rise, the Department of Foreign Affairs will take the necessary course of action which is to file a diplomatic protest,” acting presidential spokesperson Martin Andanar said in a briefing, reacting to a recent revelation by the National Security Council (NSC).
In a Senate hearing on Tuesday, NSC Deputy Director General Rufino Lopez, Jr. said the Coast Guard and the Navy are working to conduct a “proper” report of all the incursions in the resource-rich Philippine Rise, also called the Benham Rise.
No further details were provided as of publishing.
The Philippine Rise is an undersea plateau 217 kilometers off the coast of Aurora. The United Nations in 2012 ruled the Philippines had sovereign rights over the feature as part of its continental shelf.
But China, in 2018, gave names to some undersea features in the Philippine Rise — a development the government slammed at the time.
RELATED: Palace: PH won’t recognize Chinese names of Benham Rise features
