That the Philippine Navy has deployed its warship BRP Ramon Alcaraz to form part of intensified patrols over the 13-million-hectare Benham Rise, an undersea region rich in biodiversity, minerals, and gas deposits off Easter Luzon, is certainly reassuring to Filipinos who fear that we are slowly losing territory by default, timidity, or even cowardice. Describing the presidential response as a “show of defeatism” that was quite disheartening, some are asking: Does war have to be the only option to resolve the conflict? Should we be “mobilizing the tools and opportunities of international diplomacy to pressure China to ease up on its expansionism?” And considering that our country holds this year’s chairmanship of the Asean, how about “mobilizing the consensus of Asean, a number of whose members are also disputing China’s claims in the region?”

Lina, J. D. (2017, March 28). Rising up for Benham Rise. Manila Bulletin. p.11.