{"id":148461,"date":"2018-01-24T06:04:16","date_gmt":"2018-01-24T11:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=148461"},"modified":"2018-01-24T06:04:16","modified_gmt":"2018-01-24T11:04:16","slug":"maritime-law-expert-on-benham-rise-issue-ph-is-not-a-nation-of-beggars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/01\/24\/maritime-law-expert-on-benham-rise-issue-ph-is-not-a-nation-of-beggars\/","title":{"rendered":"Maritime law expert on Benham Rise issue: ‘PH is not a nation of beggars’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"West<\/a>
West Philippine Sea (PNA Photo)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque\u2019s claim that Filipinos cannot afford to explore Benham Rise\u00a0is \u201ccompletely wrong,” \u201cbased on ignorance,\u201d and a \u201cserious disservice\u201d to Filipinos, said Jay L. Batongbacal, the Director of the University of the Philippines Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea.<\/p>\n

The maritime law expert was pertaining to the statement of Roque that Filipinos do not have the potential or financial means to conduct the research in the Philippine Rise for it is too costly for an all-Filipino team.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one can do it because, apparently, it\u2019s capital intensive. You do not need a permit for any Filipino corporation to conduct scientific investigation in Benham Rise because it is ours so that\u2019s not something that a consent has to be given by the government,\u201d Roque earlier said.<\/p>\n

Batongbacal said that the statement of Malaca\u00f1ang is meant to \u201cdisempower\u201d Filipinos and their capability as a people. He added that Philippines is \u201cnot a nation of beggars for small change, even if it is from a country as a big and rich as China.\u201d<\/p>\n

“Government’s denigration of Filipino scientists and Filipinos in general, claiming they cannot explore Benham Rise without China or Chinese money, is a total sham meant to disempower and demean Filipinos and their capacity and capability as a people. It makes Filipinos appear helpless, clueless and penniless on something already demonstrated they are not,” he wrote on his Facebook page.<\/p>\n

The maritime expert pointed out that some countries are already using \u201cnew technologies that are becoming fast accessible and affordable\u201d such as artificial intelligence-guided underwater autonomous vehicles\u00a0called \u201cgliders\u201d\u00a0to conduct oceanographic researches in the deep ocean.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no doubt that the Philippines can do it as well,\u201d Batongbacal wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor gov\u2019t to say that Filipinos need China to explore Benham Rise as if there is no else that can do it is both a brazen falsehood and a disservice to the hard work and dedication, the talents and capacities of the Filipino scientific community,\u201d Batongbacal added.<\/p>\n

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has earlier granted the request of the Chinese Academy of Sciences\u2019 Institute of Oceanology to conduct research at the Benham Rise.<\/p>\n

On July 2016, United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) tribunal has earlier recognized that the Philippines has exclusive sovereign rights over the West Philippine Sea and that China\u2019s nine-dash line is invalid.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque\u2019s claim that Filipinos cannot afford to explore Benham Rise\u00a0is \u201ccompletely wrong,” \u201cbased on ignorance,\u201d and a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":108149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,95],"tags":[5450,44499,44500,31449],"class_list":["post-148461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news-ph","tag-benham-rise","tag-jay-l-batongbacal","tag-maritime-law-expert","tag-presidential-spokesperson-harry-roque","mauthors-michealina-vallarta-david","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148461","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=148461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}