The admission of National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. that Chinese fishermen have harvested giant clams and destroyed coral reefs at Panatag Shoal is enough for the Duterte administration to seek compensation from China, acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio said on Tuesday. Carpio said the government should file another case against China in the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, which has recognized the Philippines’ sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea, waters within the country’s 370-kilometer exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the heavily disputed South China Sea.

Ramos, M. (2018, June 13). Carpio: PH should sue China for damaged reefs. Philippine Daily Inquirer, p. A3.