BBM signs EO reinforcing PH maritime security amid China’s actions in WPS

‘NOT POKING THE BEAR’ That’s how President Marcos, seen here with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders’ Meeting in November 2023, describes Manila’s approach to avoiding military conflict with the Asian giant over the West Philippine Sea issue. —Malacañang file photo

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has signed an executive order geared at strengthening the country’s maritime security and domain awareness in light of China’s recent aggressive threats in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

Executive Order No. 57, which Executive Secretary Lucas P. Bersamin signed on March 25, was released to the media on Sunday.

It highlighted the need for maritime security and maritime domain awareness due to “serious challenges that threaten the country’s territorial integrity and the peaceful existence of Filipinos.”

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“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 in a statement released by the Presidential Communications Office.

“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 added.

Under the executive order, the National Maritime Council (NMC) — formerly the National Coast Watch Council (NCWC) — was designated to formulate policies and strategies for the country’s maritime security and domain awareness framework, among other functions.

Marcos also instructed NMC to craft and issue guidelines for implementing EO No. 57, which will take effect immediately upon its publication in the Official Gazette or a newspaper of general circulation.

NMC will consist of heads of the following government agencies: the Department of National Defense, National Security Adviser, Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and Department of Foreign Affairs.

The council also includes secretaries of the Department of Finance, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Department of Transportation, the Solicitor General, and the Director General of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency.

Also attached to the NMC is the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS), which was created through EO 94 (s. 2016) “to orchestrate, synchronize and operationalize the employment of the capabilities of different agencies for a unified actions in the WPS.”

Last March 23, China Coast Guard (CCG) again fired a water cannon at a Philippine vessel en route to Ayungin Shoal in the West Philippine Sea for a rotation and resupply mission.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines said the supply vessel sustained “heavy damage,” while some military service members sustained injuries due to the continued high-power water blasting of the CCG.