It was an apparent attempt to publicize its concerns before ASEAN leaders met with Chinese Premier Li Kequiang in the Laotian capital in a side summit.
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Nevertheless, intensive Chinese lobbying helped to ensure there was no mention of the July ruling in the ASEAN statement.
ASEAN leaders said closer relations with China would benefit ASEAN nations, and they are ready to lift China-ASEAN relations to a new level.
China claims much of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of trade moves annually.
Another major concern is it allows China a military base close to where USA forces regularly operate on the Philippine main island of Luzon.
But Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said China has not done anything to alter the circumstances surrounding the shoal.
“We remain seriously concerned over recent and ongoing developments and took note of the concerns expressed by some leaders on the land reclamations”, said a joint statement at the end of their two-day summit.
A Philippines official said the release of the pictures and a map showing the ships’ positions was ordered by the defence minister, who was at the Asean summit in Vientiane, Laos.
“International disputes should inspire us to work together with adherence to the rule of law and global governing bodies; put words into actions and be on the side of peace”, he quoted Duterte as saying during the meeting.
China has repeatedly blamed the United States for stirring up trouble in the South China Sea, a strategic waterway through which more than $5-trillion of trade moves annually.
What this means for China, the column concludes, is that an opportunity exists to exploit this tension and rid the region of its USA presence once and for all: “Beijing and Manila do have territorial disputes”.
The U.S. military has also expressed concerns over the possibility that China might turn Scarborough into another island, something that would give Beijing’s forces control over a swathe of the South China Sea used as a passageway to the Taiwan Strait.
Although the Scarborough Shoal is merely a few rocks poking above the sea, it is important to the Philippines because of the fish stocks in the area.
But military skirmishes can not be ruled out if China does start to build an island, according to security analysts.
But Beijing vowed to ignore the ruling.
Duterte wants China to abide by the ruling but he had pledged not to raise the issue during the meeting in Laos.
“In the past 30 years, the relationship has been very smooth, it’s only in the past few years, because of some problems known to all, the relationship has been affected”, Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin said at the summit.
Broad agreements have been reached, including statements addressing accidental encounters between China and ASEAN members in the South China Sea.
Duterte’s government released surveillance photos of the Chinese ships and barges along with a diagram showing the vessels’ exact locations at the Scarborough Shoal, which the Chinese coast guard seized after a tense standoff with Philippine vessels in 2012.
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Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (5th L) attends the 19th summit between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of China-ASEAN Dialogue Relations, in Vientiane, Laos, Sept. 7, 2016.
