The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is studying the possibility of filing another arbitral case against China after last Saturday's ramming incident in Escoda Shoal in the West Philippine Sea.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo said a legal action is one of the options in response to a Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) ship ramming the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessel BRP Teresa Magbanua, three times causing damage.

"Well, we're contemplating, at the moment, possible approaches to this issue. And I think probably in the coming days or weeks, we'll probably have a better picture of where we're headed for this," he said in a chance interview in Malacanang last Monday.

The 97-meter BRP Teresa Magbanua, one of the two biggest ships of the PCG, was sent to Escoda Shoal, 70 nautical miles from Palawan, last April in response to reports that China may be trying to undertake reclamation there.

No one was hurt from the ramming incident.

Manalo said they filed a complaint to Beijing to show DFA's "displeasure" over the incident and show its concern over the rising tension in the West Philippine Sea.

He said China accused the Philippines of sparking conflict in the WPS.

"Well, they have accused us, as usual, of doing this and that, but obviously it was just their doing this ...We were just moving, and we were surprised by this incident," Manalo said.

China asserts that it claims the South China Sea on the basis of historical evidence, which has been dismissed by the Arbitral Tribunal in 1986 in the Netherlands. DMS