Underwater structures in Bajo de Masinloc being verified - Navy
Philippine News Agency
By Priam Nepomuceno
October 14, 2025, 6:35 pm Updated on October 14, 2025, 6:37 pm
MANILA -- The Philippine Navy (PN) said Tuesday it has received reports of underwater structures in Bajo de Masinloc in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) and is verifying them.
"We have received reports of certain structures underwater, which we are verifying," PN spokesperson for the WPS, Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, said in a press briefing in Camp Aguinaldo.
Trinidad noted that in 1997, the PN successfully stopped an "attempt" by China to build a steel structure in the area.
"In the past, in 1997, there was an attempt to erect a steel structure by the Chinese Communist Party, which was blown up by our PN forces," he said.
Trinidad also said previous reported sightings of building blocks in Bajo de Masinloc turned out to be structures placed as targets at the time when US forces still had bases in the country.
"Upon further checking, these were blocks that were installed during the time of the presence of US bases when Bajo de Masinloc was still as a bombing range by the US Air Force, the US Navy, and I believe by the Philippine Air Force," he said.
The Chinese government last month said its State Council has approved the Chinese Ministry of Natural Resources' request to establish a reserve in Bajo de Masinloc, which it plans to call the Huangyan Dao National Nature Reserve.
The Philippine government, through the Department of Foreign Affairs, strongly protested China's plan, pointing out that only Manila can put up a marine protected area in Bajo de Masinloc, which is also called Scarborough Shoal. (PNA)
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