Angara says PH ‘salvation’ lies in Benham Rise near Aurora
BALER, Philippines—Former Senator Edgardo Angara has urged the government to create an environment that would attract the private sector to explore Benham Rise, a wide underwater plateau in the country’s eastern seaboard believed to be rich in gas and minerals.
“My only prayer is for the government to have a brighter and broader thought about it,” Angara told the Inquirer on Monday.
“It’s still not there,” he said.
Benham Rise, which is bigger than Luzon island, is a 13-million hectare massive formation of basalt, a common volcanic rock, off the coastlines of the provinces of Aurora and Isabela. It is described in a study as a “thickened portion of the Philippine sea plate’s oceanic crust.”
Benham Rise was named after its American surveyor, Andrew Benham. The formation lies within the continental shelf of the Philippines as defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
On April 8, 2009, the Philippines filed a claim to the territory, and the UN approved it on April 12, 2012, confirming that the landmass was part of the country’s continental shelf.
“It’s potentially very rich in gas and minerals. And if these will be explored, these will be the country’s salvation,” Angara said.
He said Aurora is closest to Benham Rise, which also extends to Isabela in the north.
“This is why we are fortunate because we have Apeco, which when developed will have an international port and airport,” Angara said.
Apeco is Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Authority, which was created by a law that Angara authored when he was senator.
Unlike Malampaya, a natural gas field in Palawan province, the jump-off platform for Benham Rise will not have to be developed because Apeco is already there, Angara said.
The advantage of Benham Rise is that it is already a part of Luzon, “some sort of an extension,” he said.
“Besides, we have no quarrel with other countries there. Unlike the islands in the West Philippine Sea, we own Benham Rise,” he said.
