MANILA — The Philippines is giving Beijing "presumption of good faith" pending the results of an investigation into a US-based tech firm's report that hundreds of Chinese vessels were dumping sewage into contested areas of the South China Sea, Malacañang said on Wednesday.

Simularity, an AI-based satellite image analysis firm, on Monday made public satellite images over a 5-year period that it said showed damage caused by untreated human waste from Chinese vessels.

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"The responsible answer is we’re verifying first. We will react if it’s been verified," Palace spokesman Harry Roque said of the report.

"We have to accord our neighbors and our friends the presumption of good faith, when they say something about an issue," he said in a press briefing.

Asked if government was trying to avoid hurting China with its rhetoric, Roque said: "Hindi po. Responsable lang tayo kasi dapat i-verify muna bago magputak."

(No. We are just responsible because we need to verify before blubbering.)

He noted that in 2019, the Philippines sent back trash to Canada after verifying reports on the waste exports.

"Matagal na po tayong naninindigan na hindi basurahan at siyempre, hindi kubeta ang Pilipinas. Tingnan muna natin kung mayroong katotohanan dahil kung wala naman, tayo ang mapapahiya," Roque said.

(We have long asserted that the Philippines is not a garbage dump, and of course, not a lavatory. Let us see first if there is truth to this because if there is not, we will be humiliated.)

Video courtesy of PTV

Apart from the garbage row, ties between Ottawa and Manila also soured after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2017 raised concerns over President Rodrigo Duterte's drug war, which has secured China's pledge of aid.

Beijing maintains a constant presence of coastguard and fishing boats in the South China Sea to assert its claim of sovereignty, including hundreds in the Spratly islands, where the Philippines, Brunei, Taiwan, Vietnam and Malaysia also have claims.

At a forum on Monday, Liz Derr, Simularity co-founder and CEO, said the waste could threaten fish stocks.

"It is so intense you can see it from space," Derr said.

The Chinese embassy in Manila did not immediately respond when asked by media for comment on Simularity's report.

The Philippines has become more vocal in recent months over the presence of hundreds of vessels it believes are Chinese maritime militias.

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— With reports from Jamaine Punzalan, ABS-CBN News; Reuters