House Bill (HB) 5360, which seeks to create a technical government agency that would protect and manage Benham Rise in the South China Sea, has been filed by Buhay party-list representative and Senior Deputy Minority Leader Lito Atienza. “Our bill seeks to create the Benham Rise Protection and Development Authority, which will protect and manage this vast area and to ensure that all natural resources that are rightfully ours would not be exploited and abused by other countries claiming it to be their own. It has been established that this area contains very essential natural gases and other minerals, as well as diverse marine life, including endangered species of fish,” Atienza said on Monday.

Benham Rise development body proposed. (2017, March 28). The Manila Times, p. A3.