President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Thursday that the Philippines needs to do more than just diplomatic protests against China as he viewed Beijing's latest actions against Manila's sailors in Ayungin Shoal as "a deliberate action to stop our people" from conducting regular resupply mission.

In a media interview with Palace reporters, Marcos said the Philippines already lodged "a hundred" protests against Beijing’s actions even before a Philippine sailor lost his thumb in an incident in Ayungin Shoal last 17 June. 

The Philippines, through the Department of Foreign Affairs, sent another note verbale to China after the China Coast Guard repeatedly rammed Philippine Navy rubber boats to stop them from delivering food supplies, firearms, and other necessities to BRP Sierra Madre.

"We have already made a similar number of demarche, so we have to do more than just that," Marcos said.

"When we call the ambassador, we tell them our position, that we don't like what happened, and that's it. But we have to do more than that, so we are doing just that," Marcos added.

Marcos didn't say how the Philippines would further respond to China's actions in the disputed region. 

Asked if the government already summoned Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian over the incident, Marcos said the Department of Foreign Affairs had called the official "many times."

''Well, the DFA will have to decide to formalize that. A discussion with the ambassador... but we are actually constantly in touch with him," Marcos said. 

"We have made our position very clear, we have made our objections to some of the actions that were undertaken by the maritime forces of the People's Liberation Army. Also, our objection, we have made it very clear not only to the ambassador but also to Beijing," Marcos added.

Not an armed attack yet deliberate

In the same interview, Marcos clarified that CCG's effort to disrupt Manila’s resupply mission to Ayungin Shoal earlier this month was not armed an attack.

Marcos said their Chinese maritime forces constituted an illegal and deliberate maneuver despite not using firearms at that time.

"It wasn't armed. No shots were fired. We weren't threatened with guns. But it was a deliberate action to stop our people," Marcos said.

"In the process, they boarded a Philippine vessel and took equipment from it. So, although there were no weapons involved, it was still a deliberate and essentially illegal action by the Chinese forces," Marcos added.

Asked why Marcos contradicted Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin's earlier statements that the incident was just a "misunderstanding," the Chief Executive said they only based the issue on preliminary data at that time.

"We were still looking at the data. Maybe there was a mistake. But since I went to Wescom and talked to (Rear Admiral Alfonso Torres Jr.) and the sailors, I asked what really happened. It's clear it wasn't a misunderstanding. They really came to block our soldiers," Marcos said.

Tensions in the disputed waters escalated in the previous year as Marcos asserted its sovereignty in the West Philippine Sea.

China has expanded its claims in the South China Sea and rejected the 2016 arbitral verdict invalidating its West Philippine Sea claims.