Cagayan de Oro lawmaker Rufus Rodriguez has proposed a measure that would declare as a protected area a large part of Philippine Rise. Rodriguez said on Thursday that he filed House Bill No. 5687, which would make the 352,390-hectare Benham Bank and its neighboring waters a protected area to be known as the Philippine Rise Marine Resource Reserve The lawmaker pointed out that Philippine Rise, an undersea region east of Luzon believed to be over 24 million hectares, is within the country’s 322-kilometer exclusive economic zone. He noted that while the undersea region is 3,000 to 3,500 meters beneath the ocean’s surface, Benham Bank lies just 48 to 70 meters below the sea.

Andrade, J. I. (2022, November 4). PH rise eyed as protected marine resource reserve. Philippiine Daily Inquirer, p. A5.