(UPDATES) THE Philippine Navy deployed ships in Sabina Shoal to prevent reclamation by the Chinese while extensively monitoring their construction activity in Subi Reef.
In a press conference in Camp Aguinaldo, Philippine Navy spokesman for the West Philippine Sea, Rear Adm. Roy Vincent Trinidad, declined to speculate on the reported reclamation by the Chinese in the shallow Sabina Shoal.
Trinidad said the Navy and the Philippine Coast Guard had already stepped up their monitoring of the Chinese due to suspicious movements in the area of Sabina Shoal.
Philippine Navy spokesman Rear Adm. Roy Vincent Trinidad. PNA PHOTO
“The Philippine government had deployed a ship to monitor the activity there. Its presence is longer than the usual presence we do,” Trinidad said.
He said the ship had been mobilized to closely track Chinese maneuvers following the discovery of crushed corals in the vicinity of the shoal.
Apart from the Chinese “monster ship” that was anchored since July 30, the Navy had monitored the presence of a Chinese survey vessel crisscrossing Sabina Shoal.
Trinidad said the survey vessel came from Mischief Reef, a military garrison erected by the Chinese in 1995, 20 nautical miles from Sabina Shoal.
“We have increased our presence in Sabina Shoal just to ensure that there is no man-made activity to pile up the crushed crabs on the shoal,” he said.
Trinidad, however, played down the activity in Sabina Shoal as a new potential flash point.
In Subi Reef, Trinidad said they noticed an improvement in the structures in the area, 12 to 15 miles from Pagasa Island.
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