"Nothing of that has been weakened in any way, shape, or form."

This was what President Marcos stated, stressing that the Philippines is not giving up its rights or any part of its territory by having a provisional understanding with the Chinese government.

During the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) Presidential Luncheon in Manila on Friday, Aug. 14, Marcos explained that the provisional understanding was meant "to prevent any kind of miscalculation or mistake that might lead to even greater attention and hopefully not conflict."

He even said that the discussions around the understanding were "focused on the wrong thing" as it was not an arrangement that requires the Philippines to ask for permission or that it has to give up any of its rights.

The President explained that under the provisional understanding, the Philippines issues a notice of maritime movements, signaling that its ship is sailing from a certain point to a certain destination, including its length of stay.

According to Marcos, "it is just an arrangement to inform not any specific country or group or vessel, but everyone who is in the West Philippine Sea that the vessels from the Philippines are going to sail from this place to that place on this day."

The practice, he said, aims to eliminate confusion during the vessels' rotation and resupply missions.

"And that is the extent of it. And that does not somehow make more vulnerable or give up any of our sovereign rights, any of our territorial claims that are relevant in this territory, especially under the UNCLOS at all, under the arbitral award," Marcos stressed.

"It does not weaken our position in any way in terms of the arbitral award, in terms of the UNCLOS, in terms of our exercise of sovereign rights, in terms of our defense of our territory," Marcos added.

He further said that the understanding "is just practical" and "a standard practice for all the vessels that sail" which the country's vessels do in consonance with the standard practice of all other vessels that sail through the West Philippine Sea.

The Chief Executive also pointed out that "there is no special arrangement' under the provisional understanding.

"So there is no special arrangement that we – somehow the implication is that we have to ask for permission or that we have to give up some kind of – some of our rights. That's not the case at all. The case is very simple," he said.

"Our ships are going – our vessels will sail. They will resupply, or they will patrol, or they will – any time that they do sail, that notmar (notice to mariners) is issued. That's the extent of it," he added.

Marcos clarified that his recent pronouncement of wanting to reset Manila's ties with Beijing only means for the two sides to be ale to go back to the table to resolve misunderstandings or deescalate tensions.

He previously made the remark amid the recent incident in the Ayungin Shoal where a Philippine Navy member sustained a head injury after being struck with a wooden baton by a Chinese Coast Guard personnel during a confrontation.

"Well, it's a reset in the sense that if we are beginning to detect or to feel an increase in tensions or an escalation in tensions, then we have to once again go back and talk to our friends in China and say: look, this is not headed in the right direction. Let's find ways to bring the tension and the levels of tension down, to de-escalate and so that we do not get to the point where one of our forces, your vessels, our vessels, the sailors that sail upon them, make a mistake or there's a misunderstanding. So let's continue to talk," Marcos explained.

"And that is something that has been really ongoing. Every time there's an incident, I suppose you could call it a reset. Let's not do that anymore," he added.