President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. said there is no need to deploy Navy ships in the West Philippine Sea as this would only escalate tensions between the Philippines and China.

“We are not at war. We don’t need Navy warships,” Marcos said in an interview with reporters in Bulacan during the inauguration of the North Luzon Expressway Candaba Third Viaduct on Tuesday.

“All we are doing is resupplying our fishermen, protecting our territorial rights,” he said.

He also stressed that the Philippines “has never been an agent of escalation of tensions.”

“Again, it will be provocative and will be seen as an escalation, we don’t do that. The Philippines does not escalate tensions. Quite the opposite, the Philippines always tries to bring down the level of tension,” Marcos stressed.

The National Security Council (NSC) previously said that the Philippines “reserves the right” to deploy warships to address to future aggression in the West Philippine Sea.

According to NSC National Task Force West Philippine Sea spokesman Jonathan Malaya, it was not fair for a Philippine civilian vessel to be facing a Chinese warship.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said last week they filed a diplomatic protest against China’s recent harassment in Scarborough Shoal.

This cames after the PCG said that BRP Teresa Magbanua, one of its vessels, was shadowed by a People Liberation Army (PLA) Navy ship at a distance of 300 yards for the first time.

The PCG also reported that a Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) vessel was sideswiped and water cannoned by a China Coast Guard vessel during its joint maritime patrol on December 4. Jaspearl Tan/DMS