Continuous monitoring of the country's territory in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) in needed to prevent and halt environment degradation, an expert said.

Dr. Jonathan Anticamara of the University of the Philippines Institute of Biology made this call during a forum in Quezon City on Saturday, June 8, as he urged the government to build cases against those destroying the environment.

He explained that it would also help the country determine and establish the actual situation on the ground and shed light on questions on environmental impact and reclaiming efforts.

“I think na ang pinakamahalaga para sa akin ay talagang i-monitor natin ito. Bantayan natin at manmanan, kasi nga ang dami nating hindi alam, to be able to establish iyong kung ano nangyari, anong katotohanan (I think the most important for me is to monitor this. We should watch over and observe because we know less, to be able to establish the actual situation, the reality),” Anticamara said.

“Iyon nga, na andoon natin dapat chine-check natin maya’t maya. Otherwise, andito tayo hula tayo ng hula. So, therefore kung gusto natin maging 100 percent sure tayo kailangan natin ng maraming ebidensiya, kailangan natin mag-monitor magmanman (We should be checking it regularly. Otherwise, we would keep guessing here. So, therefore if we want to be 100 percent sure, we need a lot of evidence, we need to monitor, to observe)," he added.

Anticamara cited a research and survey conducted by a group of marine scientists, observing extensive coral bleaching in the Escoda (Sabina) Shoal.

According to the biologist, the cause of destruction and over exploitation in the WPS is the presence of thousands of Chinese fishing vessels that started to appear in 2013.

He added that the ships anchored closely together block the sunlight needed by the corals, resulting in their gradual death and destruction.