Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said the 2016 South China Sea Arbitral Award has become more than a legal victory for the Philippines, calling it a global defense of the rule of law and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Speaking at a Stratbase forum marking the 10th anniversary of the ruling, Teodoro said the award has helped shape the country’s defense posture, strengthen international convergence, and remind Filipinos of the importance of protecting the country’s maritime rights.
“What is this Arbitral Award for me now is not an award for the Philippines, but an award for the world,” Teodoro said.
He said the ruling reinforces the binding role of UNCLOS and protects the international legal order from what he described as revisionist efforts by authoritarian powers.
Teodoro said the award also helped push the Armed Forces of the Philippines to move from a narrow, land-based defense orientation to a broader, multi-domain and multi-theater approach.
He said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had directed the Department of National Defense to review the country’s defense posture, particularly as the Philippines faces increasing pressure in its maritime domain.
Teodoro clarified, however, that the shift toward external defense does not mean abandoning internal security.
“It is not a total shift from internal security to external defense because this would be violative of the law. Internal security under the law is still a principal responsibility of the Armed Forces of the Philippines,” he said.
The Defense chief said protecting the country’s maritime rights now requires covering a wider mission area, including the Philippine Rise, the exclusive economic zone, and other areas where the Philippines has jurisdiction.
He said this has added more than two million square kilometers of maritime domain to the country’s defense responsibilities.
Teodoro said the Philippines must build a credible deterrent posture anchored on awareness, purpose, resolve, resilience, and sustained investment.
He warned that deterrence cannot be achieved through rhetoric alone, saying it requires public commitment and actual spending on defense capabilities.
He said Filipinos must understand that protecting the West Philippine Sea and the broader maritime domain requires sacrifice, resources, and a long-term national commitment.
Teodoro said he has used the Filipino concept of “yakap,” or embrace, to describe how the country should view its maritime domain.
“When you embrace, you own, you protect, and you do not strangle the baby or whomever you embrace. You nurture, you steward,” he said.
The Defense chief also warned against China’s aggression and what he called the unlawful expansion of Beijing’s influence, not only in the West Philippine Sea but also through critical infrastructure, supply chains, and information operations.
He said the Philippines must strengthen resilience in defense, industry, telecommunications, critical infrastructure, critical minerals, and underwater systems.
Teodoro said think tanks such as Stratbase should help bring public awareness on security issues down to the community level while also amplifying Philippine positions in the international arena.
He said international partnerships should not be limited to defense arrangements, but should also lead to stronger economic and people-to-people ties.
“These defense alliances will not be sustainable if these are strictly defense alliances, but should be the foundations for more expansive economic and, at the end of the day, people-to-people relations,” he said.
Teodoro also cited the need to modernize the country’s defense production capacity, including the Government Arsenal, which he said should be treated as a sovereign production facility rather than merely a factory.
He said the country must be able to rely on its own strategic production capabilities for national defense.
The Defense chief also invoked the heroism of Filipino soldiers in the Battle of Yultong during the Korean War, saying their courage should be remembered by younger generations as proof that Filipinos are not defeatist.
“The Filipino is not a defeatist at all, far from it,” Teodoro said.
He said the Philippines should draw strength from its own history and not invent narratives, unlike countries that distort history to justify expansionist claims.
Looking ahead, Teodoro said the next decade should produce a visible economic dividend from the West Philippine Sea so Filipinos can see the direct benefits of defending the country’s maritime entitlements.
He said the goal for the 20th anniversary of the arbitral ruling should be clear: to show that the country gained something concrete from its efforts to protect its rights.
“I would like to see a visible economic dividend from the West Philippine Sea that we all have worked for,” Teodoro said.
He ended his remarks by calling for continued convergence among government, the private sector, allies, and citizens in defending the country’s maritime domain.
“Yakapin natin ang lahat ng ating karagatan,” Teodoro said.