The Philippine Navy (PN) is keeping an eye on Sandy Cay, a sandbar near Pagasa Island in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), amid renewed claims that China is planning to build new infrastructures in the disputed waters.

Vice Admiral Giovanni Carlo Bacordo, PN Flag Officer in Command, said no claimant country shall build new facilities on Sandy Cay in adherence to the 2002 Declaration of the Code of Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.

"We are watchful. There are news that they may establish physical presence there by coming up with infrastructures but it will be a violation of the 2002 declaration," he said.

Claimed by the Philippines and China, Sandy Cay is one of the three uninhabited sandbars near Pagasa Island in the Kalayaan Island Group or Spratly Islands. 

The 2002 declaration, in which Manila and Beijing are both signatories, states that "no new structures shall be constructed in an uninhabited feature of South China Sea."

According to the Navy Chief, China has sustained its presence near Sandy Cay with around six to seven fishing vessels frequenting near its waters every day.

He said this was evident when he visited Pagasa Island for the inauguration of a beaching ramp in June 2020.

"Indeed, there are vessels in the area of Sandy Cay but these are fishing vessels," he stated.

The municipal government of Kalayaan has also reported that Chinese vessels were driving away Filipino fishermen whenever they try to go near the sandbar to fish.

The rumors about China's plan to establish its presence on Sandy Cay first came up in 2019, when retired Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio claimed that the Philippines lost the cay to China under the administration of President Duterte. 

This was denied by the Department of National Defense.

In a virtual forum just last month, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana reiterated that Manila still claims Sandy Cay as part of its territory.

He bared that there were plans to establish a shelter's port for Filipino fishermen on Sandy Cay in 2017 as part of government's effort to assert its claims but it did not materialize when China objected to it.

For his part, Bacordo vowed to prevent China from establishing new infrastructures on Sandy Cay even as the navy continues to patrol the areas being claimed by the government in the tension-filled waters.

"If ever they will do that, it is a violation of the 2002 document and we will strongly object to that," he said.