Why Manila is Asking China to Pay P11.1-M Over Pag-Asa Island

The Philippine government is asking China to pay P11.1 million over coral damage supposedly caused by one of Beijing’s coast guard ships near Thitu island, locally known as Pag-Asa Island.

The Palawan Council for Sustainable Development suggested pursuing a damages claim after the Chinese vessel dropped anchor in shallow waters nearly three kilometers from Pag-Asa Island on June 7. The ship damaged about 465 square meters of coral reef in waters that are part of Manila’s territory.

At a press briefing, National Security Council spokesperson Cornelio Valencia, Jr. said the country’s task force for the West Philippine Sea, which is what the Philippines calls the disputed waterway, backs the Palawan body’s idea to pursue the claim.

“This incident occurred amid heightened activity by Chinese maritime militia and Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) vessels within the territorial sea of Pag-Asa Island (Thitu Island), underscoring persistent operational concerns in the area,” the official said.

The Chinese Embassy in Manila did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the issue.

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Beijing claims more than 80 percent of the South China Sea, which is a major trade route with more than $3 trillion worth of goods passing through it.

The Hague-based and United Nations-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016 struck down China’s claim over the South China Sea calling it baseless. Southeast Asian nations such as Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam also have competing claims over the disputed waterway. The Philippines has failed to enforce the UN ruling and has since filed hundreds of protests over “encroachment and harassment” by Beijing's vast fishing fleet and coast guard.

Aside from the Philippines and China, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims to parts of the South China Sea.

Manila is trying to fast-track its military modernization program in the next decade as it allotted more than $35 billion. The military is gearing up to boost its defence capacity with the procurement and acquisition of advanced naval ships, planes and missile systems to counter China’s imposing military arm in the region.

Manila Urged To Boost Philippine Maritime Defenses, Environmental Justice

“It is unlikely for Beijing to pay for the damages.They won’t even admit they violated international law in this instance,” Michael Henry Yusingco, a resident fellow at the Ateneo de Manila University Policy Center, told Esquire Philippines via an online exchange. “This marine tragedy should remind the Marcos administration of the urgency of expanding our maritime defense.”

Pag-Asa Island is the biggest of the islands in the Spratlys occupied by the Philippines and is host to a small Filipino community that has been living there since 1971.

Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tristan Tarriela also said the Palawan Council’s proposal would be sent to the Departments of Justice and Foreign Affairs for to decide what the government’s policy direction would be with China.

PCSD Executive Director Teodoro Jose Matta has said the area near Pag-Asa Island was determined to be a “no-touch zone” by the state and bars any human activity there. A biologist from the Palawan body said the damage observed involved broken fragments of branching corals and chipped-off fragments from massive corals.

Manila’s coast guard is set to retrieve the anchor via an operation involving calm seas and specialized lifting requirements to ensure safety, Tarriela noted.

This fiasco over the reef damage is happening amid heightened tensions between the two regional neighbors resulting in hundreds of diplomatic protests from Manila.

“This is long overdue after 30 years since they illegally occupied the Mischief Reef when they claimed that it would be used for fishermen’s wharf,”Chester Cabalza, founding president of the security think tank International Development and Security Cooperation, told Esquire Philippines in an interview. “It turned out to be a vast military base now destroying corals and other undersea species.”

The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said in May that Manila would continue its maritime security activities in the features of Pag-Asa Island even amid China’s contending claims.

That same month, the Philippines accused Beijing of endangering the lives of Filipino researchers aboard two civilian vessels at Sandy Cay, which is found on the northern edge of the Spratly Islands. The water feature is located beside a Philippine outpost in Pag-Asa Island that has a small Filipino community.

“A strengthened deterrence and environmental justice can be championed Manila and other claimant-states would join the Philippines on claiming environmental reparations from China,” Cabalza added.

Based on a December 2023 study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, China’s dredging and giant clam harvesting have damaged at least 21,000 acres of coral reefs in the South China Sea. Beijing’s Embassy in the Philippines has questioned the study’s credibility saying it only relied on satellite imagery.

Chinese state media has also published a report accusing the BRP Sierra Madre, a grounded World War II-era ship intentionally grounded at Scarborough Shoal in 199 to bolster Manila’s claim, of “seriously damaging the diversity, stability, and sustainability of the coral reef ecosystem in the area."

“The issue of environmental damage in the South China Sea has always been intrinsically linked with China's maritime activities in the area, highlighted by the 2016 Arbitral Tribunal decision,” Edwin Estrada, who teaches international relations and specializes in national security studies at the De La Salle College of Saint Benilde School of Diplomacy and Governance, said in an interview.

“The Philippines needs to go beyond usual rhetoric and find innovative approaches to protecting the marine environment of the South China Sea, which should be a common concern among littoral states in the region.”

He added that China needs to recognize the marine damage caused by its activities and to strike up deals with its neighbors to deter further issues on marine degradation, which harms the fishing industry.

“China definitely won't give in. It sees any physical feature inside its dashed lines as part of its territory, with other claimants being merely squatters,” Estrada added.