Marcos Vows 'We Do Not Yield' to China in State of the Nation Address

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. pledged to defend the Philippines' South China Sea rights in his State of the Nation Address to Congress on July 27, 2026, declaring "We are Filipinos, and we do not yield." The remarks, made days after Manila condemned a China Daily video depicting Filipinos as monkeys and amid a week of maritime clashes at Second Thomas and Scarborough shoals, reaffirmed the 2016 Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling that invalidated China's nine-dash line claim over most of the South China Sea. Marcos's speech carried added weight given the string of recent Chinese Coast Guard confrontations with Philippine vessels.