DFA confirms China reclaiming land on Kagitingan Reef

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario. AP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario confirmed on Tuesday that the Chinese military are reclaiming land on Kagitingan Reef, also known as the Fiery Cross Reef, which lies west of Spratly Islands in the disputed West Philippine Sea.

“We already sent a note verbale October 10 regarding that.  We just checked…” Del Rosario told reporters after attending a budget hearing in the Senate.

He said the note verbale was sent to China.

Asked if he was then confirming the reports, Del Rosario said, “Yeah. We looked at our records and discovered that a note verbale had already been sent.”

Asked what the government plans to do with it, the Foreign Affairs Secretary said, “We were protesting the activity.”

But in a separate interview also at the Senate, Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff General Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr. said they were still verifying the reports and awaiting any instruction from the Department of Foreign Affairs.

But Catapang assured that the situation in the area “is still very normal.”

“We continue to monitor the area, we continue to resupply our troops, we continue to do our daily job and we continue to put our troops there in the area as of now,” he said.

“Our troops still occupy the areas, the island that we’re presently occupying,” Catapang added.

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