The Philippine Navy has deployed one of its three warships to Benham Rise. The BRP Ramon Alcaraz has started patrolling the 13-million-hectare undersea region and biodiversity hotspot east of Luzon, officials said yesterday. “The Navy will henceforth regularly patrol Benham Rise partly due to past Chinese activities there but more importantly because it is part of our continental shelf,” Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana told reporters.

Laude, J. (2017, March 25). Navy deploys warship to patrol Benham. The Philippine Star, p. 6.