Satellite images obtained by Reuters confirmed the presence of a structure at the entrance of the hotly disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea last week, though later imagery suggests it is no longer there. The Philippines said on Wednesday it was investigating reports about the presence of a new structure on the Scarborough Shoal, which China has at times attempted to block since it seized de facto control of the atoll in 2012. Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro received raw information about the presence of the structure, he told reporters on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue — a regional defence forum — in Singapore on Saturday. Photographs taken on May 27, 29, and 30 show what an analyst at Vantor, a commercial provider of satellite imagery, said was possibly a floating raft or buoy at the opening of the atoll, in addition to a barrier stretching across it in the May 27 and 29 images. On Tuesday, U.S.-based maritime monitoring group, SeaLight, posted on X satellite imagery taken on May 28 of Scarborough Shoal showing what it described as a “small, reflective obj
