President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has assumed the presidency amid difficult times, given the pressing national security challenges that continue to plague the country, but National Security Adviser (NSA) Clarita Carlos said he has made a clear stance the new administration will pay attention to the needs of each Filipino and protect and safeguard the national interests.
The pitfalls of lawlessness and armed conflict, territorial disputes, and economic and social threats are just some of the issues that need to be addressed by the Marcos administration, Carlos noted.
Stressing that national security must be “reckoned on the individual level,” the adviser said she intends to undertake a “human security” approach that focuses more on monitoring the daily lives and addressing the concerns of the Filipino people.
“The security that we’re really concerned as an individual would be human security,” Carlos, a political scientist, said in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel.
“Food security, security ng water sources mo (of your water sources), security of the air that you breathe, these are all individual security issues.”
The United Nations Development Programme’s 1994 Human Development Report introduced a new concept of human security, equating it “with people rather than territories [and] with development rather than arms.” According to the report, threats to human security may be classified into economic, food, health, environmental, personal, community, and political security.
Meanwhile, the Philippines has reaffirmed its commitment to international law and the rule of law in terms of handling inter-state relations.
Philippine Ambassador to The Netherlands Eduardo Malaya said the government continues to adhere to the Rule of Law and because of this, it is only fitting that the government pays tribute to the valuable services of three eminent Filipinos.
They include Cesar Bengzon, the first and only Filipino judge at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), in the legal institution through the inauguration of Judge Cesar Bengzon Hall at The Hague. Rey E. Requejo (See full story online at manilastandard.net)
Others honored were Justice Florentino Feliciano, former Senior Associate Justice of the Supreme Court and founding Member and then President of the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization (1995 to 2001); and Dean Raul C. Pangalangan, Judge of the International Criminal Court (ICC) (2015 to 2021).
“The tribute we do today is significant not only for the Philippines but beyond as Bengzon is thus far, the sole Filipino and Southeast Asian to have sat in the ICJ, thus underscoring the importance of equitable representation of the world’s various legal systems and articulation of the experiences of developing countries,” Malaya said in his speech during the inauguration of the hall last Tuesday.
Malaya stressed that adherence to international law “leads to a peaceful and more stable world.”
He noted that “law serves as a guide for and often as a restraint on nation-states in their relations with each other.”
“International law occupies a special place particularly for the Philippines and other developing countries as it is the great equalizer in the international sphere, giving a nation-state, whatever its size, the same voice and vote as those of the superpowers,” he said.
Malaya joined the ceremony along with other notable personalities, including ICJ Vice President Kirill Gevorgian.