Defense Secretary Voltaire T. Gazmin on Thursday said the country was correct in bringing China to arbitration following the revelation of Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio that Beijing has destroyed 10 more reefs and not just the seven reefs that it is reclaiming.
“It only reinforced our position that we are correct in our allegations against them before the Arbitral Tribunal,” said the defense chief at the sidelines of the Metro Manila earthquake drill in Camp Aguinaldo. “They validated our claims.”
On Thursday Carpio said Beijing has damaged 10 other reefs, as it was using them as the sources of filling materials for the seven reefs that it is currently reclaiming in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).
Gazmin said China has destroyed the “environment” in the area that it was disputing against the Philippines and breached the “status quo” that claimant-countries were supposed to be observing.
Aside from the Philippines and China, Brunei Darussalam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Vietnam have contending claims in the West Philippine Sea. Officials, however, said Beijing’s claims were expansive.
Earlier, President Aquino ordered for a status quo against any military activity—or even any improvement—on its facilities in the West Philippine Sea in order not to trigger a construction race in the disputed territory.
However, China has taken this lull by its fellow claimants by improving its facilities in the seven reefs that it occupies, along with the reclamation.
“They violated even the Declaration of Conduct [DOC] by parties in the area,” Gazmin said.
Meanwhile, Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Hernando Iriberri said there seems to be no unusual activity by China other than the presence of its vessels in the Scarborough Shoal.
Iriberri issued the statement in response to the discovery and hauling by Zambales officials of Chinese markers in the form of booms in the shoal, which, one report said, are aids in carrying out reclamation.
The discovery of the booms prompted fears that Beijing prepares to undertake reclamation in Scarborough.
But Iriberri said based on their monitoring, China has no activity in the shoal, where it exercises a de facto control after forcing a Navy vessel to leave it during a standoff in 2012.
The Chinese markers were seen at least 4 kilometers away from the shoal.