The Philippine government has been urged anew to file fresh arbitration cases against China for installing floating barriers that prevented Filipino fishermen from entering their fishing grounds in the West Philippines Sea and for harvesting corals in the waters that damaged the marine environment there.

Former supreme court associate justice and solicitor general Francis Jardeleza said Beijing's move to put up barriers in the waters, which was discovered by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on Friday near Scarborough Shoal, was against international law.

"The arbitral tribunal in 2016 already ruled very clearly that the Scarborough Shoal, the fishing there, is for three countries. It is called artisanal fishing," Jardeleza said in an interview with ANC on Monday.

"Filipinos, the Chinese and I think, the Vietnamese can fish. So this latest action of China is completely illegal," he added.

Jardeleza said the government, which will be led by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), can file a fresh case against China under provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law Sea.

Since the 2016 Arbitral Award issued by the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration turned in favor of the Philippines but did not rule on barriers' installation, Jardeleza said the country must file a fresh case that will build on the existing "law of the case."

In the fresh case, the former solicitor general suggested filing a complaint against China not only for blocking Filipino fishers from their fishing grounds but also for damaging the marine environment in the Rozul Reef and the Sabina Shoal.

China is accused of the damage in the said atolls as its militia vessels were reported to frequent the area.

Jardeleza believed the Philippines would be in a strong position since the 2016 arbitral ruling, which was based on the UNCLOS, ruled that China could legally do anything, including damaging the environment, in the said areas, which are part of the country's exclusive economic zone.