Lt. Gen. Bartolome Vicente Bacarro, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), has reiterated his directive to the Philippine Navy (PN) to continue defending the country’s maritime domain against foreign intrusions.

“It is very imperative that we should continue to protect, defend, and secure maritime domain against all foreign intrusions while vigorously pursuing awareness in the surface, sub-surface, and airspace up to the high seas and beyond,” Bacarro told sailors and marines during his recent visit to the Navy headquarters at the Naval Station Jose Andrada in Manila.

The AFP Chief also emphasized the guidance of Commander-in-Chief, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., on the sanctity of the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in which "the Philippine Navy plays the most crucial role in safeguarding our seas and boundaries."

Following his recent designation as the country's top military officer, Bacarro has been visiting main military camps nationwide to relay his priority thrust to the AFP’s major services.

Marcos, in his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 25, declared that he “will not preside over any process that will abandon even one square inch of territory... to any foreign power.”

The Philippines has an ongoing territorial dispute with China in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), a resource-rich body of water that is situated within the former’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

An arbitral ruling was awarded by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) to Manila in 2016, rejecting the excessive claims of Beijing in the WPS, but the East Asian military superpower continues to ignore it and do reclamation works in the contested waters.

The Department of National Defense’s (DND) leadership under the helm of Officer-in-Charge Jose Faustino Jr., a former AFP Chief of Staff, opted to stay “in the diplomatic realm” and engage its foreign counterparts through active dialogue “to maintain the status quo.”