[8] Several scientific surveys have been made on the feature to study its nature and its impact on tectonic subduction, including one about its effects on the 1990 Luzon earthquake.

[3] The landform was presumably named after Admiral Andrew Ellicot Kennedy Benham (1832–1905) by American surveyors who probably studied the geological feature.

He was a United States Navy officer, who served with both the South Atlantic and West Gulf Blockading Squadrons during the American Civil War.

[citation needed] The Philippines filed its claim for Benham Rise in 2008 in compliance with the requirements of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas.

[23][24] Malacañang Palace announced it objection, and non-recognition of the Chinese names, adding it will appeal for their rejection with the International Hydrographic Organization.

[27] However, a few hours later, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque clarified that China’s renaming of sea features “was a scientific process and not a political one”, adding “Whoever made the discovery gets to decide what these are called.”[28] On February 16, the Philippine government announced they have sent military personnel into the Cagayan Valley to guard the Rise.

[30] On February 26, the Department of Foreign Affairs stated during a Senate investigation that China actually surveyed the Rise in 2017 without any Philippine-issued permit, citing the lack of capability to detect illegal entry.

[39] These forces may have impacted the shape of the island of Luzon because of the basaltic sea floor resisting the subduction that may have also cause the bending of the Philippine Fault.

[40] The active basins in Central Luzon, which trace an asymmetrical V shape, is the best place to observe recent tectonic evolution of the fault system.

Called Kalipung-awan (roughly translated from the Bikol languages as “loneliness in an isolated place”) is celebrated in Catandunganons literature, and a large portion of fish caught in the region come from the waters covering the Philippine Rise.

Its poetic name come from fisherfolk who spend days in the vast and lonely waters seldom visited by other ethnic groups.

Its location east of Luzon, southeast of Taiwan, and west of the United States territory of Guam also makes gives it strategic geopolitical importance.

[20] To commemorate the first anniversary of the Philippine government’s renaming of the feature, 500 square kilometers (190 sq mi) of the feature was declared a “Strict Protection Zone” reserved exclusively for scientific research, while about 3,000 square kilometers (1,200 sq mi) was designated a “Special Fisheries Management Area“.