It was loud and clear.
We are referring to the statement by Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. that the Department of National Defense remains committed to ensuring the Philippines remains safe, peaceful, united and progressive for Filipinos.
Coinciding with the celebration of the 125th Independence Day on Monday, the 58-year-old Teodoro, whose appointment by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., enabled him to return to his old post, acknowledged challenges faced by the Philippines.
But he stressed: “Amid current and emerging challenges, we will continue to strive for the protection and betterment of our Motherland.”
While he is not new to the DND portfolio – he was defense chief from August 2007 to November 2009 under then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo – Teodoro said manning the post is more challenging now as we are all living in a different world.
“It was not merely the relationship with China which was different then, during that time there was no Middle Eastern implosion yet, there was no Arab Spring, there was no tension between Russia and Ukraine and the relationship between China and the United States was different, even in the semiconductor and technology sector there was cooperation so now we live in a vastly different world,” he added.
Teodoro said there is a lesson here: the need to build up the country’s capabilities to make sure we are safe from any “world happening or event.”
Many gave their hand when Teodoro said in a television interview the Philippines has the right to build up its credible deterrence without any question from other nations.
“The job of the Secretary of the National Defense is first and foremost building up our credible deterrence, and that will, and the way that we build up our credible deterrence is our business and nobody else’s business and whether we partner with country X or Y in order to build up our own core strength is a question for the Philippines,” he said.
We agree with him that other countries should not question this right as the Philippines does not call out other nations engaged in the buildup of defensive and even offensive capabilities.
He was explicit, if distinct, when he said “Just like we do not question the buildup of not even defensive capabilities but offensive capabilities of other countries, they should not question ours and they should not tie up our buildup of our capabilities to any question of whether it’s Taiwan or whatnot.
“The Philippines is for the Philippines and we leverage that and I think other countries want to help us because they view it as an integral (part of) standing strong with democratic values.”
The DND chief was deafening when he said the Philippines is not a pawn of anyone in the ongoing “geopolitical battle” in the region.
“And so the Philippines is a value (proposition) as we call it by its own self and not a pawn of anybody else in the geopolitical battle that’s raging within our area now,” he stressed.
Right on.
