Malacañang on Thursday struggled to answer lingering questions on whether Beijing really sought President Rodrigo Duterte’s permission to conduct research over the Benham Rise region east of Luzon, with two key Cabinet departments denying knowledge of such an arrangement. In a news conference, presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said the Chinese vessels were in the area – a 13-million-hectare region said to be rich in mineral resources and is part of the country’s extended continental shelf – for “research” and there was “no incursion.” Under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), the Philippines has exclusive “sovereign rights” to explore and exploit natural resources within its extended continental shelf, which spans up to 350 nautical miles from its land mass.

Valente, C. S., & Pilapil, J. R. (2017, March 17). Palace DFA, DND differ over benham. The Manila Times, pp. A1, A7.