MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Thursday said the country would need to "do more" than the usual protest to address China's aggression in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), branding the latest incident in Ayungin Shoal as "deliberate and illegal action" by Chinese forces to stop the resupply mission to the BRP Sierra Madre.

"It's not armed, walang pumutok (there was no gunfire). Hindi tayo tinutukan ng baril (They did not point a gun at us) but it was a deliberate action to stop our people. But in the process of that, kinuhanan tayo (they got from us), they boarded the Philippine vessel and took the equipment from the Philippine vessel," Marcos said in an interview with reporters at the National Employment Summit at the Manila Hotel on Thursday.

"Although there were no arms involved, nonetheless it was still a deliberate action and it is still essentially an illegal action that was taken by the Chinese forces," he added.