Hontiveros urges diplomatic action vs China over WPS damage

Senator Risa Hontiveros has filed Proposed Senate Resolution No. 85, calling on the Executive Branch to intensify legal and diplomatic actions to hold the Chinese government accountable for ecologically destructive activities in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) and to demand reparations for the damage already inflicted.

In her resolution, Hontiveros urged the Philippine government to press China through international legal avenues and diplomatic channels to immediately cease the destruction of marine ecosystems within the country's exclusive economic zone (EEZ), particularly near contested areas such as Panatag Shoal (Scarborough Shoal).

The resolution was filed in the wake of recent maritime incidents involving Chinese military and coast guard vessels, including a dangerous standoff on August 11, 2025, when two Chinese ships—the PLAN destroyer Guilin (164) and China Coast Guard vessel CCG 3104—collided while attempting to block a Philippine Coast Guard escort vessel and a civilian mission conducting Operation Kadiwa, in support of Filipino fishing communities in the area.

Just days later, a Chinese J-15 fighter jet dangerously intercepted a PCG patrol aircraft, flying within 60 meters of the Philippine plane in a move widely condemned as reckless and provocative.

Hontiveros mentioned that the unlawful Chinese activities in the WPS have caused at least P33 billion of damage annually to marine ecosystems within the Philippines' continental shelf and exclusive economic zone.

She noted that the amount reached around P396 billion since the Philippines filed protests against China in 2013.

“These estimates were computed on the basis of a 2012 study published in the international academic journal Ecosystem Services which pegged the annual baseline value per hectare of a coral reef at USD353,429, as well as satellite images showing that Chinese activities had caused ecological damage to a total of 1850 hectares of reef ecosystems in Panatag and the Spratly Islands,” she added.

Hontiveros emphasized that reparations from China could be used not only to restore and rehabilitate damaged marine ecosystems but also to strengthen the Philippines' ongoing efforts to respond to the pandemic.

The resolution cites the 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, which upheld the Philippines’ sovereign rights over its EEZ and dismissed China’s sweeping "nine-dash line" claims.

Despite this legal victory, China has continued its activities in defiance of international law.