By Ria Duana A. Roble

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has officially received a letter from United Nations Convention on the law of the Sea (UNCLOS) informing the Philippines that Benham Rise, a 13-million hectare underwater plateau, off the coast of Aurora and is larger than Luzon is now part of the Philippine continental shelf and territory.

A team led by Dr. Hildie Nacorda of the University of the Philippines Los Baños-School of Environmental Science and Management (UPLB-SESAM) went on an expedition to Benham Rise on May 3-17, 2014. It was composed of 28 researchers and divers from the UP-Marine Science Institute (UP-MSI), the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), UPLB-SESAM and Institute of Biological Sciences, UP Mindanao, UP Baguio, students from Ateneo de Manila University and two senior researchers from Xavier University McKeough Marine Center (XU-MMC) namely, Fra-and Timothy Quimpo and Patrice Bianca Roa-Chio. They reached the 50-m deep Benham Bank, the shallowest part of Benham Rise, for the first time.

“From the many marine biologists and scientists in the Philippines, there were only a handful of us chosen to be part of the expedition so it was really an honor to be part of the exploratory team of Benham Rise, being the first to see and grab the bottom of Benham so to speak,” said Fra-and Quimpo. Resources are abundant (energy, food, water, etc.) including corals, but thorough studies must be done to further know the value of these. “This was the 19th expedition, but ours was the first to touch bottom and the impact is not only on the resources but I believe on the morale of future Filipino explorers and scientists,” said Patrice R. Chio.

“Being resource-wise, it all depends on how this generation will utilize this speculated availability which can either make this country richer or make it even poorer than ever,” she added.