The Philippines is serious about its capability development to further protect and secure the country's territorial sovereignty and rights to its exclusive economic zone amid the increasing tension in the West Philippine Sea. 

In a statement over the weekend, Defense Chief Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said the Department of National Defense and the Armed Forces of the Philippines have already implemented the country’s Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept (CADC).

“In plain language, we are developing our capability to protect and secure our entire territory and EEZ in order to ensure that our people and all the generations of Filipinos to come shall freely reap and enjoy the bounties of the natural resources that are rightfully ours within our domain,” Teodoro said. 

The defense chief then urged AFP commanders and units to utilize all efforts to fully enforce the CADC.

“I emphasize that this a strategic action and will not need constant directives to carry out. I, thus, urge our commanders and units in the AFP to exert all efforts to operationalize the CADC,” said Teodoro.