Navy: Structural remnants in Scarborough Shoal are PH-made

COURTESY OF PHILIPPINE NAVY

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines  built the recently-spotted structural remnants in Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal and not by any other country, Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, Philippine Navy spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, said on Tuesday.

Trinidad made this remark on the Philippine Coast Guard’s  (PCG) satellite images pertaining to structural debris in Panatag Shoal, also known as Bajo de Masinloc.

“What is clear is that these are the remnants of structures of the Philippines in the 80s and the 90s, and these were not built or established by any foreign power on Scarborough Shoal,” Trinidad said in a regular military briefing.

Trinidad, however, could not share more details pertaining to the former structure there.

Aside from this, Trinidad previously said there were “building blocks” spotted in the shoal back when there was still a US military base in the country.

During that time, he said the sandbank was used as a bombing range by the militaries of Manila and Washington.

COURTESY OF PHILIPPINE NAVY

He also said that in 1997, there was a marker — a steel structure — erected by China in the shoal, which was then blown up by the Philippine Navy.

On Nov. 3, 1999, BRP Benguet ran aground at Panatag Shoal, but it was later extricated on Nov. 29, according to the military.

To date, there are no structures erected on the shoal.

The 2002 Declaration of Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea prohibits new occupation and building of structures in any maritime features in South China Sea, including in the West Philippine Sea.

The DOC is a document that China signed with the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

However, since its effective takeover in 2012, China enforced what experts call “exclusion zone enforcement” around the Panatag Shoal, barring Filipino fisherfolk from entering in an outright disregard of the 2016 Arbitral Award which declared the area a traditional fishing ground for the Philippines, China, and Vietnam.

COURTESY OF PHILIPPINE NAVY

Almost a month after the August 11 collision of two Chinese ships, Beijing announced its plans to establish a so-called “national nature reserve” at the shoal, which was immediately rejected by Manila and its treaty ally Washington.

Beijing claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea but the landmark 2016 Arbitral Award effectively dismissed this, ruling heavily in favor of Manila’s sovereign rights. /gsg