Magdalo party-list Representative Gary Alejano on Saturday criticized President Rodrigo Duterte's plan to visit Benham Rise to assert the country's sovereign rights over the mineral-rich territory.

"Asserting our rights over our territory is more than just sailing to Benham Rise when there is no issue there at a given moment," his statement read.

Duterte had repeatedly stated that only Filipinos have the right to explore and exploit the resources in the undersea plateau off Luzon coast and that the only right that foreigners can exercise in Benham Rise, which has been renamed Philippine Rise.

Alejano emphasized that the assertion should be manifested both in words and actions and through determined efforts.

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For the lawmaker, the President's forthcoming trip was just "for show."

He said the assertion of rights and the protection of Philippine territories from foreign encroachment "should be consistent whether it be in Benham Rise or the West Philippine Sea and regardless of the country whom we might go against with."

Alejano said Duterte's visit was "merely to create a semblance of concern on the matter only to mask his subservience to China and betrayal against the Filipino people." —Margaret Claire Layug/ALG, GMA News