Marcos orders strengthening PH maritime security amid China’s aggression in WPS

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has signed an executive order calling for the strengthening of the country’s maritime security and maritime domain awareness amid China’s aggression in the West Philippine Sea, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said Sunday.

Marcos signed Executive Order No. 57 as he emphasized the need to strengthen maritime security and raise awareness on the maritime domain amid “serious challenges” threatening the Philippines’ territorial integrity and the “peaceful existence of Filipinos.”

“Despite efforts to promote stability and security in our maritime domain, the Philippines continues to confront a range of serious challenges that threaten not only the country’s territorial integrity, but also the peaceful existence of Filipinos, including their fundamental right to live in peace and freedom, free from fear of violence and threat,” Marcos said.

“Strengthening the country’s maritime security and domain awareness is imperative to comprehensively tackle the crosscutting issues that impact the nation’s national security, sovereignty, sovereign rights, and maritime jurisdiction over its extensive maritime zones,” he said.

Under EO 57, the National Coast Watch Council has been renamed and reorganized into the National Maritime Council (NMC) chaired by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin.

The NMC will be responsible for formulating policies and strategies to ensure a unified, coordinate and effective governance framework for the country’s maritime security and domain awareness, among other powers and functions.

The NMC was also ordered to formulate and issue guidelines for the effective implementation of EO 57 within 60 days from its effectivity.

The said body will have as members the secretaries of the following departments:

• Department of National Defense (DND);
• National Security Adviser (National Security Council);
• Department of Agriculture (DA);
• Department of Energy (DOE);
• Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR);
• Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA);
• Department of Finance (DOF);
• Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG); and
• Department of Transportation (DOTr).

The Solicitor General and the director general of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency were also named members of the NMC. -KG, GMA Integrated News