MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. on Friday said that while Manila is not looking for any trouble with Beijing, the Philippines would keep defending its maritime territory, after it removed China-installed barriers in the West Philippine Sea.

Beijing this week warned Manila not to "stir up trouble" after the Philippine Coast Guard it removed a 300-meter floating barrier that China allegedly deployed to block Filipino fishermen from Bajo de Masinloc or the Scarborough Shoal.

"'Di naman maaari na lalagyan ng barrier na ganon at maliwanag naman na nasa loob ng Pilipinas 'yan," Marcos said in a chance interview in Surigao del Norte.

"Hindi tayo naghahanap ng gulo. Basta't gagawin natin, patuloy nating ipagtatanggol ang Pilipinas, ang maritime territory ng Pilipinas, ang karapatan ng mga fisherman natin na mangisda doon sa mga areas kung saan sila nangingisda," he added.

(There shouldn't be any barrier there and that is clearly within the Philippine territory. We are not looking for trouble, but we will defend our territory and the rights of our fishermen to go in their traditional fishing grounds.)

The barrier had prevented fishermen from entering the shoal's shallow waters where fish are more abundant.

Marcos said Filipino fishermen lost around a hundred tons of catch daily due to the barrier, the removal of which he ordered in a special operation.

The Philippine Coast Guard released a video on Monday showing a man wearing snorkeling gear using a knife to sever a rope attached to white buoys, while another showed an anchor being hauled from the water into a wooden outrigger boat.

After the rope was cut, the Chinese government removed the barrier, Jay Tarriela, Philippine Coast Guard spokesman for the West Philippine Sea, told local media Tuesday.

• PH Coast Guard removes floating barriers in Bajo de Masinloc

"Basta’t kagaya ng sabi ko, umiiwas nga tayo sa gulo, umiiwas tayo sa mga maiinit na salita ngunit matibay ang ating pagdepensa sa teritoryo ng Pilipinas," Marcos said.

(We are avoiding trouble, we are avoiding harsh words, but our defense of Philippine territory is strong.)

• PH defense chief hits China's warning to not 'stir up trouble'

China claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, despite a 2016 international court ruling that its stance has no legal basis.

Scarborough Shoal sits 240 kilometers west of the Philippines' main island of Luzon and nearly 900 kilometers from the nearest major Chinese land mass of Hainan.

Under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which China helped negotiate, countries have jurisdiction over the natural resources within about 370 kilometers of their shore.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin Tuesday said Beijing "firmly upholds the sovereignty and maritime rights and interests of the Huangyan island", referring to the shoal by its Chinese name.

"We advise the Philippines not to provoke or stir up trouble," Wang added.

— With a report from Agence France-Presse

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