MAKATI CITY — A Philippine Navy officer and academic on Friday urged the Philippines to strengthen minilateral partnerships with like-minded countries, saying multilateral institutions have limitations in addressing the country's evolving security challenges in the Indo-Pacific.

Speaking at the Kyiv-Manila Dialogue at the Ateneo De Manila University Rockwell Campus, Rear Adm. Rommel Jude Ong, professor of praxis at the Ateneo School of Government, said the Philippines' experience with China has exposed the constraints of multilateralism within Southeast Asia.

"We have to accept the fact that the Philippines is an outlier as far as vis-à-vis ASEAN because of our China policy… [t]hat reflects on the sort of constraints that we are available to; that reflects on the limits of how multilateralism can work with us," Ong said.

He said those limitations underscore the need to pursue "minilateralism" — ad hoc cooperation among a small group of like-minded countries that share common interests and security concerns.

According to Ong, the Philippines has already begun moving in that direction as reflected in its expanding diplomatic and military engagements with partners beyond Southeast Asia.

He said Manila should continue strengthening security ties not only with treaty ally the United States, but also with Japan, Australia, South Korea and European Union member states that have supported the country's position on the 2016 arbitral ruling.

"We still have that Southeast Asian angle [in our] diplomatic relations, but we are also moving toward a Northeast Asian orientation as far as our security relations are concerned. That is our adjustment because China is becoming an almost omnipresent influence in the future," he said.

Like a marriage

Ong described minilateral arrangements as more flexible than traditional alliances, comparing the latter to a marriage because of the binding commitments involved.

"I don't want to use the analogy of marriage now, but an alliance is a marriage. It has a contract, and there are obligations between the parties involved in that," he said. "A minilateral is not a marriage because the contract is not as binding, and there is a certain flexibility in the relationship.”

He said an emerging minilateral framework could initially center on the Philippines and Japan, whose security interests closely align, before expanding to include countries such as Australia and South Korea.

"To put it in more concrete terms, the emerging minilateral that we are trying to work on right now involves at least the Philippines and Japan. We share the same concerns. Japan is a resident power, meaning it is part of our community. Hence, Japan's calculations are almost similar to those of the Philippines," Ong said.

"As we expand, we're looking at how we can share responsibilities and actions in areas where our interests converge," he added.

Ong said such partnerships should extend beyond defense cooperation to include economic resilience, including the development of alternative regional supply chains.

The forum coincided with the 59th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting and Related Meetings in Manila, which concludes Friday.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro said Manila has served as the center of ASEAN diplomacy this week, with her office conducting about 38 bilateral meetings while foreign ministers collectively held around 120 bilateral engagements during the ministerial gathering.