Defense Secretary Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro Jr. said the newly launched “Task Force Philippines” with the United States is expected to strengthen credible deterrence and improve disaster response by streamlining coordination and actions across related agencies.

In a press conference on Sunday in Makati City, Teodoro explained that the “Task Force Philippines” was formally established following discussions between U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and himself last week.

The initiative, he said, is an operational arrangement between U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (Indo-PACOM) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), consolidating various bilateral defense activities under one coordinated framework.

“It is an operational arrangement between U.S. Indo-PACOM and the Armed Forces of the Philippines as the task force to converge all our bilateral activities,” he told reporters.

Teodoro added that AFP Chief General Romeo Brawner Jr. has already established a strategic command that will form part of the new task force.

The arrangement aims not only to strengthen joint military readiness and maritime deterrence in contested waters, but also to improve coordination during humanitarian assistance and disaster response operations.

“We use the term task force; task force has a specific mission, and that mission role is to converge with our resilience both internally and externally. And it is an efficiency mechanism to funnel all the activities,” he pointed out.

“So we do not only converge in deterrence but we also converge because of the frequency of natural calamities that have beset us,” he added. “This task force will put more regularity into an immediate and quick response to the natural calamities that we are facing.”

The defense chief emphasized that the creation of the task force is anchored on the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) between the U.S. and the Philippines, rather than the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), which governs the legal status of American troops temporarily deployed in the country.

“All these task forces are under the different articles of the Mutual Defense Treaty, which we have with the United States. It is nothing new but an operating agreement between General Brawner and Admiral Paparo, raised up to our level and with the permission of both President Marcos and President Trump,” he explained.

The task force’s launch comes amid heightened tensions in the West Philippine Sea, where Chinese coast guard and maritime militia vessels have repeatedly harassed Philippine ships operating within Manila’s exclusive economic zone.

When asked whether the U.S. views the task force as a means of shifting the regional balance of power, Teodoro said its purpose is “to build resilience both internally and externally,” noting that deterrence is “one part of a broader effort to ensure stability and preparedness.”