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Here, we report new estimates of local marine radiocarbon reservoir ages from northwestern Luzon Island in the Philippines, on the east side of the South China Sea. Data for two periods, through the 1940's and the mid Holocene, were derived from modem and fossil corals. Our results from Luzon Island show variable AR values, from -39 +/- 25 to 337 +/- 27 C-14 yr over the past 6000 years and highlight the importance of understanding temporal AR changes to obtain accurate radiocarbon dates for mid-Holocene samples. An abrupt shift in Delta R at similar to 5.5 ka BP, in the east side of the South China Sea, can be attributed to changes in the intensity of the up-welling, in the eastern Pacific, and to the East Asian Monsoon. Additional reservoir age data from the Pacific is likely to reveal details of oceanographic and climate changes at this time.