More than 500 hectares of coral reefs were reportedly destroyed in a span of four years supposedly due to China's activities in the West Philippine Sea, a maritime affairs expert said.

Jay Batongbacal, Director of University of the Philippines Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea, said satellite imagery showed that more than 500 hectares of the Scarborough Shoal had been destroyed from 2012 to 2016.

Batongbacal said massive coral destruction in the West Philippine Sea "has been on-going for quite some time."

But the thing is, he said, "due to the arbitration having come out under a 'friendly' administration in 2016, China has never really been called to account for the destruction it caused with this massive island building spree and then all subsequent destructive fishing activities that it allowed to continue thereafter."

Another reason for the destruction is the maritime militia anchoring on the reefs, Batongbacal added.

"You do not anchor on coral reefs in massive numbers without causing some kind of destruction. The mere presence of your vessel can already destroy these sensitive reefs," he said at a forum organized by Stratbase ADR Institute.

"The pollution that they produce while they're there for months on end will also affect the water quality, and corals are very sensitive to water quality," he added.  

Batongbacal pushed to quantify the amount of Philippines' losses due to the destruction.  

"We need to show that. We need to bring that up and show as well that the destruction continues. The clam digging activities were even documented as late as 2021. And we know that they have been reported as occurring still even though they might have been reduced in volume simply because there's no more coral to destroy," he said.