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'Internal processes' tightened as AFP focuses on external defense

Philippine News Agency

By Priam Nepomuceno
February 3, 2025, 5:03 pm

MANILA -- A ranking Philippine Navy (PN) official on Monday said "internal processes" in the military are being tightened as they started to shift from external defense some two years ago.

"Right now with the shift that we are doing to external defense, our systems and procedures have also shifted. We already are looking at the bigger picture, which would include our internal processes (on) how to safeguard not only physical security for our establishments but (also our) cyber, communications, human security," PN spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea (WPS) Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad said during an interview with ANC.

Formerly, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) had been focused on internal security due to the presence of local communist insurgents but with these threats now on the wane, the military has decided to focus on its external defense missions.

He added that all these moves were started some two years and well in advance of the alleged espionage cases detected and now being neutralized by government law enforcement agencies with help from the military.

"These are all ongoing and this is not because of what has transpired with those alleged spies. This is because of the shift that we have done, which started roughly two years ago," Trinidad said.

Also, the naval officer said the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is focused on improving the Navy as this was reflected in the Chief Executive's announcement of a shift from "internal security to external security."

"(That) is a policy landmark," he added.

Also, this focus was further reinforced by Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr's announcement of a new defense strategy in early 2024, called the Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept (CADC), which calls for the AFP to defend all of the country's territories including its 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone.

"Now the AFP, we have, I shall say, done leaps and bounds in terms of our systems and procedures to be able to cover the vast expanse of the entire archipelago," Trinidad said. (PNA)