South China Sea: Philippine fishermen warn Beijing of ‘10 times’ retaliation over its detainment order

While analysts said the Philippine government’s legal action could be successful, they warned Beijing would likely respond with countermeasures against Manila and its people.

“Expect China to retaliate with restrictive trade measures, harassment of Filipino workers in China and more serious bullying in the disputed areas,” Edmund Tayao, a political analyst and professor at the San Beda Graduate School of Law in Manila, told This Week in Asia.

Jonathan Malaya, assistant director general of the National Security Council, told reporters that Philippine authorities were collecting evidence to file a case against China for destroying coral reefs around the shoal and its other illegal actions, including Chinese fishermen harvesting endangered giant clams.

Tayao said the outcome of such a case would likely favour Manila as indicated by legal precedents involving both countries over the South China Sea row.

“We won the arbitration case before so we should have a good chance. Consider as well that we have international public opinion on our side, so that political factor is likely to be an advantage as well,” he said.

Tayao noted that the filing of another case against China has been discussed for some time after Manila’s repeated diplomatic protests against Beijing were consistently ignored.

While Malaya did not provide a timeline for filing, he mentioned that the Justice Department was assessing the case.

“We are alarmed and worried about the situation that’s happening there … They are the ones that are there right now. They are preventing us from going inside the lagoon,” Malaya said as he challenged China to open Scarborough Shoal to international scrutiny so that its environmental state could be assessed.

“We can ask third-party