The administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has placed greater emphasis on strengthening the country’s external defense capabilities, according to Defense Secretary Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro Jr.
The Department of National Defense (DND) chief made the statement on Monday in response to questions about the key changes and improvements implemented by the current administration in the country’s defense policy.
“Well, the major shift would be a focus on external defense or territorial defense. As you know, the President’s statements were we would be unyielding and resistant to Chinese aggression in the West Philippine Sea (WPS). And we’ve been gearing up towards that mission,” Teodoro said during an interview with ANC’s Headstart.
He said that before this shift, the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) “mission area” was internal security and land-based. With the shift to external security, the Defense Secretary said that the military needs to cover an “area of operation, (some) two million square kilometers of maritime domain.”
“This remains a goal that we are trying to achieve in terms of structure, people, systems, and capabilities. A big shift also has been our international engagements. As you know, we have been very proactive together with our other partner security agencies in getting an alliance to uphold international law and UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea),” Teodoro said.
“Also, a major part for us, for our national interest, is to resist the Chinese claims. And might I underscore to our people that their claim is not merely sovereign rights, but indisputable sovereignty and territorial integrity over all waters within the Nine-Dash Line, while in accordance with UNCLOS, our claim is sovereign rights,” he added.
Teodoro concluded by saying that he is “quite skeptical about any good faith on China’s part, unless they change that position because it is totally unacceptable and illegal.”
