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Marcos: PH open to cooperation amid 'unpredictable' Indo-Pacific

Philippine News Agency

By Darryl John Esguerra
September 10, 2025, 10:47 am

MANILA -- The Philippines is ready to deepen cooperation with other nations to confront "unpredictable" security challenges in the Indo-Pacific, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said Wednesday, stressing that Manila will never compromise its sovereignty even as it strengthens alliances.

Speaking at the inaugural Manila Strategy Forum, Marcos underscored the country's role "at the forefront" of regional tensions, citing daily harassment faced by Philippine vessels and fisherfolk in the West Philippine Sea.

"Today, the most significant threat to the peace and stability we strive for is right here in our own neighborhood, here in the Indo-Pacific region. And this is not just an opinion. It is a fact," the President said.

"Our government vessels and fisherfolk continue to be harassed in our own waters, and we remain on the receiving end of illegal, coercive, aggressive, and dangerous actions in the South China Sea."

The Philippines and China have been locked in a long-standing maritime dispute over parts of the West Philippine Sea, part of the vast South China Sea which Beijing claims entirely as its own. A 2016 arbitral tribunal has ruled in favor of Manila and invalidated Beijing's expansive claim.

Marcos said collective action is now "absolutely essential" as he described today's challenges as "not bound by borders."

"The alliance of the Philippines and the United States has reached a necessary and natural progression towards trilateral and minilateral, multilateral engagements, building individual and collective capabilities to address common challenges."

He cited the country's growing partnerships under joint maritime activities with the United States, Japan, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, as well as trilateral economic projects such as the Luzon Economic Corridor with Washington and Tokyo.

Marcos said security cannot stand without shared prosperity.

"Strengthening our common security requires strengthening our economies. We do not take our mature security alliance as a license to remain on autopilot, to be complacent," he said.

He, however, underlined that while the Philippines is open to cooperation, sovereignty remains paramount.

"Respect for our sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction is, and has always been and will always be, non-negotiable," Marcos said.

The President added that the Philippines' 2026 chairship of ASEAN and its 80th year of diplomatic ties with the United States would be opportunities to showcase "a free and open Indo-Pacific that is connected, inclusive, and prosperous." (PNA)