President Marcos has issued Executive Order (EO) No. 57, which aims to strengthen the country's maritime security amid China's recent aggressive tactics and threats in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin signed the six-page EO on March 25, the same week President Marcos announced that the government would carry out a proportionate, deliberate, and reasonable response to what he called the "open, unabating, and illegal, coercive, aggressive, and dangerous attacks" by agents of the China Coast Guard and the Chinese Maritime Militia.

In the EO, the President emphasized the need to strengthen maritime security and raise awareness on the maritime domain amid "serious challenges" that threaten the country’s territorial integrity and the "peaceful existence of Filipinos."

"Despite efforts to promote stability and security in our maritime domain, the Philippines continues to confront a range of serious challenges that threaten not only the country's territorial integrity but also the peaceful existence of Filipinos, including their fundamental right to live in peace and freedom, free from fear of violence and threat," he said.

"Strengthening the country's maritime security and domain awareness is imperative to comprehensively tackle the crosscutting issues that impact the nation's national security, sovereignty, sovereign rights, and maritime jurisdiction over its extensive maritime zones," he added.

Under EO 57, Marcos renamed and reorganized the National Coast Watch Council (NCWC) to the National Maritime Council (NMC), tasked to formulate policies and strategies to ensure a unified, coordinated, and effective governance framework for the country’s maritime security and domain awareness, among other powers and functions.

The NMC, chaired by Bersamin, is tasked to formulate and issue guidelines for the effective implementation of EO 57 within 60 days from its publication in the Official Gazette or a newspaper of general circulation.

The members of the NMC are the secretaries of the following departments:

• Department of National Defense (DND)
• National Security Adviser (National Security Council)
• Department of Agriculture (DA)
• Department of Energy (DOE)
• Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)
• Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA)
• Department of Finance (DOF)
• Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG)
• Department of Transportation (DOTr)

The Solicitor General and the Director General of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) are also members of the NMC.

The NCWC Secretariat, which was renamed as the Presidential Office for Maritime Concerns (POMC), is tasked to provide consultative, research, administrative, and technical services to the NMC and ensure the efficient and effective implementation of the policies of the council, among other functions.

The Presidential Assistant for Maritime Concerns (PAMC), on the other hand, may report directly to the President on critical and urgent matters and issues affecting the country’s maritime security and domain awareness, while the National Maritime Center (formerly the National Coast Watch Center) is tasked to implement and coordinate maritime security operations, among others.

The National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS), created in 2016 to orchestrate, synchronize, and operationalize the employment of the capabilities of different agencies for unified actions in the West Philippine Sea, will be attached to the NMC.

It will also receive policy guidance from the President through the NMC.