MANILA — Former Duterte spokesperson Harry Roque on Tuesday criticized President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., claiming the chief executive still "does not have a clear policy on China" 2 years into office.

Marcos last week renamed and reorganized the National Coast Watch System into the National Maritime Council in a bid to boost the country's maritime policy and security.

RELATED: Imee says EO creating maritime council ‘leads to dangerous path’

The move was made after the latest Chinese aggressions in the West Philippine Sea left Filipino troops injured and vessels damaged.

"Why is it only now that he's forming this office if he had a very clear idea of how he should proceed with Philippine-China bilateral relations?" Roque said on ANC's "Headstart".

Instead of creating the maritime council, Roque said the executive branch should have had "better consultations with China experts," including Manila's own ambassador to Beijing, Jaime FlorCruz.

"The better option is to listen to our ambassador because he knows how the Chinese think, he knows who to talk to, and he knows better than anyone else how to resolve our disputes with China," said Roque.

'SIT DOWN ON SIERRA MADRE ISSUE'

Roque also said that the Philippines should sit down with China on matters related to the BRP Sierra Madre, a commissioned Philippine Navy ship grounded on Ayungin Shoal since 1999.

"We do not know if they will allow or not, but certainly we should sit down with them and ask them. 'Can we repair the Sierra Madre? If we decommission it, will you have any objections further?'"

The Philippines has maintained the position that the BRP Sierra Madre and Ayungin Shoal are within the country's exclusive economic zone and continental shelf and that it does not need permission to conduct operations in its own waters.

In a separate interview also on "Headstart", former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV — a former Navy officer — said that Sierra Madre's commissioned status helps protect it from harassment.

He said that an attack on the grounded ship could trigger the Mutual Defense Treaty with the United States and that calls to decommission BRP Sierra Madre is "a trap" and "what China wants."

RELATED: Chinese attack on BRP Sierra Madre will trigger PH-US defense treaty — ex-DFA chief

"The moment you decommission that and it’s now vulnerable. puwede na silang i-harass nang i-harass," he said.

STRONGER STANCE UNDER MARCOS

Marcos has taken a stronger stance against China's harrasment in the West Philippine Sea and pursued "transparency initiative" to expose Beijing's "dangerous" actions in the country's sovereign waters.

The Philippines and China have, however, maintained bilateral dialogue mechanisms to help ease tension in the South China Sea, part of which is the West Philippine Sea.

"The two sides had frank and productive discussions to de-escalate the situation in the South China Sea and both sides agreed to calmly deal with incidents, if any, through diplomacy," China's foreign ministry said in January after a "candid and in-depth exchange of views" in Shanghai.

READ: China, Philippines agree to talk more on South China Sea flare-ups

Marcos last month said that the Philippines will not be "cowed into silence by China" after the fresh confrontations at sea. 

Marcos' remarks came as China blamed Philippine actions for recent rising tensions between the countries in the hotly contested waterway, which Beijing claims almost entirely.

Beijing and Manila have a long history of maritime territorial disputes in the South China Sea and there have been repeated confrontations between their vessels near disputed reefs in recent months.

Marcos reaffirms One China Policy following Taiwan message

Analyst: Marcos' stronger territorial stance unlikely to change China's behavior

—with a report from Agence France-Presse