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Marcos admin more focused on external defense - Teodoro

Philippine News Agency

By Priam Nepomuceno
July 28, 2025, 2:32 pm

MANILA -- Department of Defense (DND) Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. on Monday said the Marcos administration is now more focused on external and territorial defense, describing it as a "major shift" in defense policy.

"Well, the major shift would be a focus on external defense or territorial defense," Teodoro said in a television interview when asked on the changes and improvements the present administration has made in the country's defense policy.

"As you know, the President's (Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.) 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," he added.

Before this shift, Teodoro said the Armed Forces of the Philippines' (AFP) "mission area" was internal and land-based security.

Aside from this, the DND chief also noted a "big shift" in the country's 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)," he said.

The Philippines is locked in a years-long territorial dispute with China over parts of the resource-rich South China Sea (SCS).

In 2016, the Philippines won a landmark case against China's massive claim in the SCS before an arbitration tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, but China does not recognize the ruling.

"Might I underscore to our people that their (China) 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. So there is a big difference in that," Teodoro said.

The nine-dash line refers to an invisible demarcation used by China to refer to its massive claim in the SCS.

"I really am quite skeptical about any good faith on China's part, unless they change that position because it is totally unacceptable and illegal," he added. (PNA)