Responding to the recent remarks of presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo that a documentary on the situation of fishermen in the West Philippine Sea was old, the filmmaker behind the video showed proof that it was recently shot.

China’s plan to draw straight baselines around the Spratly Islands and declare much of South China Sea as part of its internal water closed to foreign planes and ships would further escalate tensions in the region, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI).

The Philippine government can only do so much as protest China's actions in the West Philippine Sea as Beijing has control over the area, Malacañang said Monday.

"They have to show proof that is being done now again because if it's being done, certainly we will protest."

A fisherfolk group on Monday appealed to the government to protest China's blockade of Scarborough or Panatag Shoal in the West Philippine Sea.