{"id":147619,"date":"2018-01-20T02:27:36","date_gmt":"2018-01-20T07:27:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=147619"},"modified":"2018-01-20T02:27:36","modified_gmt":"2018-01-20T07:27:36","slug":"allowing-foreign-research-in-benham-beneficial-to-ph-cayetano%e2%80%a9%e2%80%a9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/01\/20\/allowing-foreign-research-in-benham-beneficial-to-ph-cayetano%e2%80%a9%e2%80%a9\/","title":{"rendered":"Allowing foreign research in Benham \u2018beneficial\u2019 to PH: Cayetano\u2029\u2029"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Newly-appointed<\/a>
FILE: Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano (PNA photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA\u00a0<\/strong>— Amid criticism on the Philippines’ move to grant a Chinese \u201cthink tank\u201d access to the Benham Rise, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano on Friday said allowing marine scientific research (MSR) in the area “benefits” the Philippines.<\/p>\n

During the launch of the First-Time overseas Filipino workers Portal at the DFA-Aseana, Cayetano explained why the government denied the request of a French-based organization to conduct similar study in Philippine waters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe French ship applied for a different area and the area was quite sensitive,” he said, adding they were also not able to commit in admitting a Filipino on board.<\/p>\n

“Sabi nila maliit lang daw yung barko nila kaya hindi na maka-accommodate ng Filipino so nag-no tayo<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

He said the Chinese ship agreed to comply with having a Filipino expert on board and sharing the findings with the government.<\/p>\n

He added that in every marine scientific research, the three important things considered are: study of the marine life; how to preserve it; and whether mineral, oil and gas “can be harvested” from the area.<\/p>\n

Accepting foreign research allows the government to obtain data on Benham Rise without spending too much of its resources, he said.<\/p>\n

Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio earlier said with China “squatting” on the West Philippine Sea and refusing to leave despite a tribunal ruling, the Philippines would be “dumb to grant China’s request.”<\/p>\n

Cayetano did not comment on the statement but cited the marine research as beneficial.<\/p>\n

He also underscored the need to “separate” this development initiative from maritime dispute in other areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s no relation whatsoever between the exploration in Benham Rise and the South China Sea dispute,” he told reporters.<\/p>\n

When asked on the documents detailing areas the French-based researchers requested and when the Chinese researchers started its MSR, the DFA-Office of Public Diplomacy said it is now coordinating with DFA-Maritime And Ocean Affairs Office.<\/p>\n

Cayetano added that the French researchers have requested permission to look into “some parts” of Palawan he described as “sensitive.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— Amid criticism on the Philippines’ move to grant a Chinese \u201cthink tank\u201d access to the Benham Rise, Foreign Affairs …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":102711,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[3374,38553,5450,9396],"class_list":["post-147619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-alan-peter-cayetano","tag-antonio-carpio","tag-benham-rise","tag-department-of-foreign-affairs","mauthors-joyce-ann-l-rocamora","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}