The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) doesn't see the need to seek help from the international community, particularly the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), despite China's continued aggression in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) as the Philippines' top diplomat believes that the power of dialogue is still working.

DFA Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro, who was DFA's lead negotiator for bilateral relations prior to assuming the agency's top post, told House lawmakers that the bilateral mechanism between Manila and Beijing "is so far being effective" in terms of containing China's repeated incursion into the Philippines' territorial waters.

On top of that, the transparency initiative that the government launched—wherein the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), among other agencies, publicized China's continued aggression in the waters—is "also deterring certain situation".

Lazaro made the remark during Tuesday's House Committee on Appropriations hearing on DFA's 2026 budget, where Mamamayang Liberal (ML) Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima asked about the agency's plan about Beijing's activities. 

De Lima actually filed a resolution urging the executive branch to pass a resolution before UNGA to call out China's incursions.

According to Lazaro, DFA is still "looking at the strategic, deliberate and calibrated approach" about the matter. But she recognized that such a resolution "is what we need to promote".

 "The UNGA, we will be meeting this...September. And we are consulting also our mission in New York on the possibilities and the probabilities of having this resolution passed. But we're looking at it, and we're studying it very carefully," she said.

De Lima pressed ahead, asking Lazaro "In light of the successive recent actions of aggression on the part of China, would it be the best, or among the best moves, to be made in order to prevent escalation of the tension?"

Lazaro maintained that DFA's focus for now was to "gather more support" as the Philippines was also vying for a UN Security Council seat for the term 2027-2028.

"The resolution is still very much in our minds, and we are mindful of the positions that has been taken," she said.

De Lima then asked Lazaro what she thought would compel the agency to formally elevate the matter to the international body.

The DFA chief said, "We have to have it a whole of government approach."

"We'd like to also meet and convene with the other stakeholders in this particular situation. We just want to be very on all force on on discussing this issue," she added.