(Eagle News) — Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque on Tuesday defended the Department of Foreign Affairs decision to allow China to jointly conduct a research with the Philippines in the Philippine Rise.
According to Roque, in the first place, no Filipino has applied to do such a research in the continental shelf previously known as Benham Rise.
“And no one can do it because, apparently, it’s capital-intensive,” he said.
He said that while other countries had applied to do the research, “only China” was “qualified” according to “fixed guidelines set by the government.”
Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano has said that under the law, other countries were allowed to conduct researches in the area for as long as this was jointly done with Filipinos, and the team’s findings are shared with the Philippine government.