Manila, Aug. 4 -- The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Tuesday said the provisional understanding between the Philippines and China on Ayungin Shoal has proven effective over the past two years, facilitating more than a dozen incident-free resupply missions to Filipino troops stationed aboard the BRP Sierra Madre.

"It has worked for two years already. Since July 2024, we have had 15 incident-free RORE (rotation and resupply) missions, just to show that the provisional understanding has worked," Foreign Affairs Spokesperson for Maritime Affairs Rogelio Villanueva Jr. said in a briefing.

Questions had been raised about whether the understanding was consistent with the 2016 Arbitral Award, prompting a proposal for a Senate inquiry i...