Recent news of a Chinese research vessel towing a movable platform out and back into Scarborough Shoal (Bajo de Masinloc) should be a cause for alarm for Filipinos. The scenario brings back memories of the Mischief Reef (Panganiban Reef) incident more than three decades ago, when China surprised the Philippines with what analysts viewed then as a creeping occupation of one of the natural features lying within the Philippine-claimed Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) in the Spratlys.

Estrada, E. (2026, July 16). Filipinos still can't fish in Bajo de Masinloc. The Manila Times, p. B12.