EXPERTS and officials said the Sandy Cay in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) is now in a degraded state based on the assessment conducted by the government in the area.
Dr. Jonathan Anticamara from the UP Institute of Biology said at the Saturday News Forum that this is “possibly due to a combination of disturbances from overfishing, climate change impacts, and island-building activities in WPS.”
The experts added that they saw “low coral and fish diversity and abundance” in Sandy Cay, locally known as Pag-asa Cay.
“Pag-asa Cays have less than 10 coral and fish species per 100 sqm transect that we surveyed, and most (of) the observed corals and fish species are small in sizes,” the team said during the presentation of their assessment.
The group also discovered “rubble piled on Pag-asa Cays 1, 2 and 3 that are now exposed even during high tide.”
“(The) coral rubble are piled on large live coral colonies, suggesting that those rubble are dumped on those live coral colonies,” said the group in their assessment.
“The pile of sand and rubble on Pag-asa Cays 1, 2 and 3 have many characteristics that are atypical of naturally formed coral or sandy barrier islands, indicating that these are possibly product of island building activities that are observed in WPS, but with some degree of uncertainty,” it added.
National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea spokesperon Jay Tarriela was quick to point to China for the “degradation” of Sandy Cay.
“If you are going to ask me now, who is our suspect in doing these illegal small island reclamation in Cays 1,2,3,4? There’s no other country that we can pinpoint, it’s only the People’s Republic of China,” said Tarriela.
“Firstly, only China has access to these cays, which are located near their reclaimed military base on Subi Reef. Additionally, Chinese Coast Guard and Chinese Maritime Militia are frequently observed swarming these cays,” Tarriela meanwhile said on X (formerly Twitter).
Tarriela added that the China Coast Guard went “as far” as deploying a PLA-Navy Helicopter to prevent the Philippine government from completing its study.
GMA News Online has reached out to the Chinese Embassy for comment but it has yet to reply as of posting time.
In September 2023, dead and crushed corals were also found in Sandy Cay 2. Experts said this was a common procedure done by China before it starts reclamation activities.
In March, Several Filipino marine scientists were injured after they were reportedly harassed by a Chinese Navy helicopter at Sandy Cay. The helicopter reportedly flew low over the coalescing sand bars and the scientists for ten minutes.
Tarriela said “this behavior indicates their opposition to the marine scientific research conducted by the Philippines. It suggests that they may be concealing ongoing small-scale reclamation activities in the cays surrounding Pag-asa Island.”
Sandy Cay is an area near Pag-asa Island in the town of Kalayaan, located in the West Philippine Sea.
