Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. said the Philippines is checking reports that China has built structures at Panatag Shoal in the West Philippine Sea. The area continues to be monitored closely by the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Teodoro made the remarks on the sidelines of the 2026 Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. He described the information as raw and noted that the shoal is a dynamic area under ongoing observation.
From May 19 to 25, the AFP tracked 36 Chinese vessels across four sites in the West Philippine Sea. Nineteen of those vessels, including 10 People’s Liberation Army Navy warships and nine China Coast Guard ships, were near Panatag Shoal.
AFP spokesman Roy Vincent Trinidad said the sustained Chinese presence forms part of a strategy to normalize the situation. He described Beijing’s statements declaring the area a nature reserve as illegal and false.
Teodoro added that the Philippines has no issue with the Chinese people. The difficulty, he said, lies with the Chinese government, which operates by its own rules and does not accept the voice of the international community.
