Presidential aspirant Norberto Gonzales said that the COVID-19 pandemic is a threat to the country's national security, so a candidate with experience working for the Defense department ​like him can work on it.

Gonzales, who served as the Department of National Defense chief during former President Macapagal-Arroyo's administration, said national security is not only about the country's territories.

He said it has other aspects, which include food, health and job security as well as the security of children's education and the safety of the frontliners.

"The entire Philippines witnessed how the pandemic cost us our security in all these aspects. The cost in lives alone cannot even be quantified," Gonzales' camp said in a statement.

In a press conference on Wednesday, Gonzales said it would be his priority to address the COVID-19 crisis in the country should he win the presidency.

He said he would do it by boosting the immunity of the people through proper nutrition.

"One after the other, the results of the contagion manifested: medicines are in short supply in drugstores; the food supply stands in peril; alert levels imposed renew the people’s anxiety, and limitations on travel impact not only people but farm produce and other goods that must be transported," his camp said.

"But the response of the national leadership remains sorely inept. It is time to take the more correct perspective: that this is a matter of National Security. National Security is at stake," it added, noting the "present leadership is not equipped with the expertise needed to safeguard" the country's national security.

His camp believed Gonzales is fit to become the president as far as the COVID-19 and the national security is concerned because "it is his forte, strength capability."