The Philippines will stop China from putting up structures on Bajo de Masinloc
By: Manuel Mogato | Published: October 8, 2025
Reading Time: 4 minutes
Manila – The Philippines said it will not allow China to construct structures in a disputed shoal in the West Philippine Sea, after Beijing had announced plans to transform the rocky outcrop into a nature reserve.
General Romeo Brawner, Armed Forces chief of staff, told a group of foreign correspondents in a forum, the military would exert efforts to prevent any moves by China to make Scarborough Shoal into a militarized area.
“We do not want that to happen to Scarborough,” Brawner said, referring to Bajo de Masinloc after China transformed in 2013 an uninhabited Mischief Reef into an artificial island in the South China Sea.
“That’s why we are closely watching. Once they build a structure there, that would be a different story.”
Brawner said, “We have several options that we could do. Diplomatically, we could file protests, but we are watching so that we will not have a repeat of Mischief Reef.”
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Known also as Bajo de Masinloc, Scarborough Shoal has been a traditional fishing ground for generations of Filipino fishermen.
It lies just 125 nautical miles (232 kilometers) west of the country’s main Luzon island inside the Philippines’ internationally recognized exclusive economic zone.
The shoal, a U-shaped rocky outcrop, has been under China’s de facto control since 2012.
The Philippines took China to an international arbitration court in The Hague, which invalidated Beijing’s sweeping claims in a 2016 ruling.
Beijing has rejected the ruling, even as world powers, including the United States, hailed the decision.
The international court also said China had violated the rights of Filipinos.
Last month, Manila’s foreign ministry formally filed a diplomatic protest against China for its announced plans to create a nature reserve in Scarborough.
The protest was a “strong, unequivocal and formal articulation” of Manila’s objection to the Chinese plan, it said. The creation of the nature reserve was announced on September 10, a move analysts said was meant to bolster China’s territorial claim to Scarborough, known as Huangyan Island in China.
China has countered that it was within its legal right to set up the reserve, which it claimed was aimed at protecting Scarborough’s ecological diversity. It said the Philippines’ protests were groundless.
China has been holding drills near Scarborough since February, with its Southern Command saying that they were meant to boost “the control of relevant sea and air areas, resolutely defend national sovereignty and security, and resolutely maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea.”
Brawner said the Philippines was also looking at expanding the scope of large-scale joint military exercises to include more training with like-minded countries beyond its traditional ally, the United States.
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