A PHILIPPINE senator on Monday filed a resolution seeking legal and diplomatic approaches to force China to stop its “destructive” reclamation activities in the South China Sea.

Senator Risa N. Hontiveros-Baraquel also said the government should force China to pay the Philippines P200 billion for damages on reefs within its territory in the past six years.

“China’s sense of entitlement to our seas has caused severe and irreparable harm to our ecosystems,” Ms. Baraquel said in a statement.

She estimated damages caused by China’s reclamation activities at P33 billion a year, assuming the value per hectare of a coral reef is $353,429 based on a 2012 study by Ecosystem Services.

Under Senate Resolution 369, Ms. Baraquel asked the Executive branch to exert “legal and diplomatic pressure” on the Chinese government to stop its island-building activities and pay for the damages.

She said the government could use the money in its battle against the novel coronavirus pandemic, which has sickened more than 7,000 and killed at least 501 people in the Philippines.

“If China pays the reparations owed to us, we can further improve our COVID-19 response and help more Filipinos against the disease,” the lawmaker said.

Ms. Baraquel also accused China of taking advantage of the pandemic when it announced a plan to set up two districts on Paracel and Spratly Islands in the disputed waterway.

Rival Southeast Asian claimant nations and the United States have criticized China’s recent assertive moves in the disputed waterway as the world battles the coronavirus pandemic.

The two administrative units are under the control of Sansha City, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army said on its news website on April 17.

“China has taken advantage of this global chaos by constructing artificial islands, installations, and structures in our own territory. This aggression must stop immediately,” she said.

The United Nations Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Haque favored the Philippines in its lawsuit against China in 2016, rejecting the latter’s nine-dash line claim to most parts of the South China Sea.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr. last week filed twin diplomatic protests at the Chinese Embassy in Manila — one for China’s declaration of the districts and another for aggression after a Chinese ship allegedly pointed a radar gun at a Philippine Navy ship on Feb. 17.

The military earlier said the gun-pointing incident within the Southeast Asian nation’s exclusive economic zone violated international law and Philippine sovereignty. — Charmaine A. Tadalan

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