The National Security Council (NSC) and its Malaysian counterpart convened for a high-level bilateral meeting in Makati City on Tuesday, Oct. 8, to deepen security cooperation between the two neighboring countries.
National Security Adviser (NSA) Eduardo M. Año and Malaysia's National Security Council Director General Raja Dato' Nushirwan Bin Zainal Abidin agreed to establish a dialogue mechanism for national security advisors from member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN).
“This initiative aims to foster comprehensive regional discussions on security, paving the way for more coordinated action among member-nations,” Año said.
Año called attention to the role of the two nations within the broader ASEAN framework, urging a focus on unity and regional leadership.
“As founders of the ASEAN, Malaysia and the Philippines should push for strengthening the key principle of ASEAN, which is the ASEAN centrality. It is the vision of ASEAN to be the leader, driver, architect, and vanguard of regional cooperation in the Asia Pacific or putting ASEAN at the center of the regional architecture,” he added.
Raja Dato' Nushirwan, for his part, reaffirmed Malaysia's support for ASEAN's role as a key platform for discussing regional security issues.
He emphasized that the longstanding relationship between Malaysia and the Philippines “remains robust and vital,” driven by their shared proximity and common interests.
Año also raised the situation of undocumented Filipinos in Sabah as he proposed establishing a bilateral platform dedicated to addressing their plight.
“Though many Filipinos have been given residency status in Sabah, many remain undocumented. It is the desire of our government to register all of these undocumented Filipinos for them to access social services offered by the Philippine government,” he noted.
Raja Dato' Nushirwan welcomed the proposal as he promised that the Malaysian government will continue to facilitate consular visits of the Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur to Sabah and Sarawak.
Further, Año and Raja Dato' Nushirwan revisited the trilateral cooperative agreement between the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia which is aimed at combating piracy, human trafficking, and other transnational crimes in their maritime borders.
“The trilateral cooperative agreement is an effective mechanism to address piracy, human trafficking, and other transnational crimes in our maritime borders,” Año said.
“We must continue to work together to sustain the gains brought about by the Trilateral Cooperative Agreement and work on improving other areas of cooperation in the tri-border area like the establishment of a joint rules of engagement,” he added.
The bilateral meeting was a product of President Marcos Jr. and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s commitment in 2023 to strengthen the political, security, and economic relations of the two countries.