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Jose Rodel Clapano - The Philippine Star
April 30, 2025 | 12:00am
This handout photo taken on March 21, 2024 and received from the Philippine Coast Guard and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (PCG/BFAR) shows an aerial view of Philippine scientists inspecting Sandy Cay reef, near the Philippine-held Thitu Island, in Spratly Islands, in disputed waters of the South China Sea.
Photo by Handout / Philippine Coast Guard via AFP
MANILA, Philippines — Even if it has declared the report on the China Coast Guard’s reported seizure of Pag-asa (Sandy) Cay as fake news, the government is not letting its guard down and is considering filing another arbitration case against Beijing before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
National Security Council (NSC) assistant director general Jonathan Malaya revealed this yesterday in an interview with “Storycon” on One News.
He said a task force has been created to study the filing of a case against China before the ICJ, as suggested by retired Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio.
“Yes, it is being studied,” Malaya said. “Again, it is a decision of the National Maritime Council here, the Department of Justice, the Solicitor General, all of our legal teams are there. It’s going to be their decision, not of the National Task Force on the West Philippine Sea.”
He noted the statement from the Chinese coast guard that they have seized Sandy Cay and exercised sovereignty over it.
“We immediately sent teams there and we raised our flag as well and there is no illegal occupation in Pag-asa Cay, in any of the Pag-asa Cays,” Malaya said. “So what was reported by the Chinese coast guard was obviously fake news.”
Asked about the government policy in the cays, he said, “The existing policy is we don’t construct features in unoccupied features of the West Philippine Sea because of the 2012 declaration of conduct. So we don’t want to be accused of not following the declaration of conduct. So we do not place anything there. We are not installing any permanent structures in the Pag-Asa cay. We just continue to monitor the situation there,” Malaya said.
