Filipinos wary of massive militarization, reclamation of Subi Reef

FILIPINOS continued to express alarm following the massive reclamation and militarization of Subi Reef (named Zamora in the Philippines), a low-tide elevation located in the Spratly Islands, after years of uninterrupted construction.

“The military build-up of China is connected to the military encirclement of the United States. Both powers are engaged in a rivalry for dominance in the region,” Renato Reyes Jr., national president of progressive nationalist group Bayan Muna, told Sunstar Philippines in an interview.

“Our call is for both powers to remove their military assets and bases in the region as a necessary condition for the peaceful resolution of the maritime issues,” Reyes added.

While the artificial reef is outside the country’s exclusive economic zone, it is also 12 to 15 nautical miles of the territorial sea of the Philippine-administered Pagasa (Thitu) Island and part of the country's continental shelf.

The People’s Republic of China first took possession of the coral reef feature in 1988.

Aside from China, the governments of Taiwan, Vietnam, and Philippines also claimed ownership of the reef.

“We have to pursue all diplomatic means to resolve the issues in the West Philippine Sea,” Reyes said.

Filipinos had the full images of the ongoing construction in the Subi Reef after the government’s Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) made a recent aerial mission into the Chinese-made artificial island.

The man-made structures on the artificial reef now feature expansive structures, complete with various radar and communications equipment, warehouses, water port, power generation system, aircraft hangars, and a three-kilometer runway, aside from paved roads, massive buildings, and offices.

"The Philippine government had deployed a ship to monitor the activity there,” Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, Philippine Navy spokesman for the West Philippine Sea, told reporters during a press conference in Camp Aguinaldo in Manila recently.

While the artificial reef is still outside the territorial waters of the country, Trinidad maintained that “all these man-made islands, man-made features would not generate any maritime entitlements,” following the Arbitral Ruling of 2016.

Trinidad reported that China has already reclaimed roughly around 3,000 hectares in the South China Sea including some parts in the West Philippine Sea.

As this developed, the Philippines, together with Canada, the United States, and Australia, launched a two-day military exercise within the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone earlier this August.

"Australia, Canada, the Philippines and the United States uphold the right to freedom of navigation and overflight, other lawful uses of the sea and international airspace, as well as respect for maritime rights under international law, as reflected in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea," the participating forces said in a joint statement.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. earlier said that “Philippines cannot yield” amid the growing tension happening at the West Philippine Sea.

“The Philippines cannot waver…The West Philippine Sea … is ours,” Marcos said during his July 22 State of the Nation Address. (Ronald O. Reyes/SunStar Philippines)