Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. admitted Friday that the Philippines cannot do anything about China’s move to militarize a series of contested artificial islands in the South China Sea. Yasay said the Philippines would tolerate Beijing's actions so that there will be “no further actions that will heighten the tensions between the two countries,” particularly in the Scarborough Shoal. “We will leave it at that. For the Philippines, we have our bilateral engagements with China... and our efforts have paid off. As you can see, our fishermen are allowed to... not allowed—But our fishermen now have free access, insofar as Scarborough Shoal is concerned,” Yasay said.

Bencito, J. P. (2016, December 17). 'PH can't stop China'. Manila Standard, pp. A1, A2.