A think tank group has called on the national government to strengthen the country’s maritime security “amid the rising and continuous non-traditional conflicts among states.”
Prof. Dindo Manhit, president of the Stratbase ADR Institute, noted that the Philippines is “in a strategic location and security challenges have evolved through time.” He lamented however that the Philippines’ “ civil maritime capability is lagging behind.”
“It’s not simply traditional. I always used the term asymmetric—it is not what is in front of you. You see fishing boats; you see harassment by Chinese coast guards in our territory. That’s not war,” Manhit stressed.
“But that’s actually coercion of our people, coercion of our fisher folks. Then the overfishing, that might be affecting our own marine resources. That is basically stealing from the resources of another nation – That’s actual war. But there’s no bombing, there’s no killing,” he added.
“We all know it’s part of what we call their aggression based on the strategies of the gray zone—there is no actual conflict, but there’s already conflict. They are what we call non-traditional conflicts and we seem to have lost our edge there because we are not ready to confront them,” Manhit argued.
According to him, there is a need to empower the Philippine Coast Guard, the Bureau of Fisheries, and the Philippine Navy. He also batted for the strengthening of inter-agency coordination to protect the country’s coast and economic zone.
“We believe that in Stratbase ADR Institute, we live in a rules-based international order. And that rule of law, the international rule of law, makes a country, a small country like the Philippines, equal to bigger countries like China. It defines what is our economic zone, exclusive economic zone. It defines what is our sovereign territory,” he explained.
Manhit also urged the government to strengthen relations with state allies beyond China and the United States.
“This is what I believe is a truly independent foreign policy, when you engage other countries and not limit yourself to either the China way or the American way.”
“If America is part of that liberal democratic order, I’ll go with that, the institute goes for that. But not only the US, but the European Union, the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand and other strong democracies [like] India, which is part of this broad Indo-Pacific that will drive the world economy in terms of trade and investment,” Manhit said.
In this context, the Stratbase Group will gather key government officials, the diplomatic community, security and geopolitical experts, and the civil society in a 2-day conference on November 21 and 22, 2022 entitled Pilipinas Conference 2022: Onward to New Beginnings: Sustaining and Improving Philippine Development.
Invited to the event were key government leaders including Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman, Environment Secretary Ma. Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno, Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual, Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez, US Ambassador to the Philippines MaryKay Carlson, Ambassador and head of the European Union Delegation to the Philippines Luc Veron, and Australian Embassy charge d’affaires Richard Sisson.
Also attending are top government security officials, geopolitics experts, key officials of the biggest corporations in the country, and representatives of the diplomatic community.
