Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano has defended the Duterte administration’s move allowing China to conduct marine research in Benham Rise off eastern Luzon, indicating that the grant of permission did not break any law. In a news conference on Friday, Cayetano invoked a law that allowed foreign vessels to do research in the country’s continental shelf “for as long as there is a Filipino on board.” Allowing China or any other nation to study and explore in Benham Rise — a vast undersea region located in the Philippine Sea, about 250 kilometers east of Isabela province—does not even require a policy decision, he said.

Pazzibugan, D. Z. (2018, January 14). Cayetano Defends Granting China Research Access to Benham rise. The Philippine Daily Inquirer, p. A6.