The dispute over a string of sandbars called Sandy Cay emerged in August and prompted China and the Philippines to consider negotiating some sort of arrangement to prevent such incidents from spiraling out of control, Lorenzana said.
The rift over the tiny sandbar, where Filipinos planned to erect fishermen's shelters, in the group near Philippine- occupied Thitu island in the Spratlys archipelago remains unresolved but both sides pledged not to occupy any new territory, he said.
Duterte has courted Chinese trade and assistance and taken a non-confrontational approach to their territorial disputes.
He has refused to immediately take up with China a ruling by a UN-linked tribunal that invalidated Beijing's sprawling claims in the South China Sea, sparking criticism from nationalists and left-wing groups, which wanted him to demand immediate Chinese compliance with the landmark decision.
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Duterte made the decision after Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano advised him of an agreement involving China and the Philippines for a halt on new construction in the disputed waters, Lorenzana later told a news conference.
"We brought up people there to occupy, to put up structures for our fishermen," Lorenzana said. He said the Chinese "complained that we are occupying a new feature."
Philippine foreign affairs and military officials refused to divulge details of the dispute at Sandy Cay in August.
The nearest sandbar in Sandy Cay is about 2.5 nautical miles from Philippine-occupied Thitu Island. On August 15, a blue Chinese helicopter flew low off Thitu's southwest coast, the report said.
The Chinese military presence off Sandy Cay sparked concerns in Manila.
Philippine Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, who has studied the disputes extensively, said then that the Chinese navy ships and other vessels encroached in the Philippine island's 12-nautical mile (22 km) territorial waters.
The long-unresolved disputes are among issues expected to get the spotlight at an annual summit of Southeast Asian nations and their Asian and Western counterparts in Manila next week.
China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which includes four governments involved in the sea feud, agreed earlier this year on a framework for a long-proposed nonaggression pact in the disputed waters. The framework is to serve as a roadmap for negotiations on a so-called code of conduct in the often-volatile waterway.
Many of the 10-nation bloc's members depend largely on China for trade, investment and aid.
"If ASEAN pursues an over-abundance of caution, it risks becoming only a bystander to the events within its own region," former Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario told the Manila forum today.
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