President Marcos has called on Filipinos to care for the country's seas and shores, stressing that by doing so, they are also protecting the nation's sovereignty.

In his message for the celebration of the Maritime and Archipelagic Nation Awareness Month (ΜΑΝΑ Μo) 2025, Marcos encouraged the citizenry to unite towards caring for the country's maritime resources.

"[L]et us unite our people towards caring for our seas and shores, for we care to protect not only our nation's sovereignty but also those who will Inherit our legacy," Marcos said.

The President stressed that "the seas remain the richest reservoirs of food and widest corridors of trade." Thus, he cited effective maritime governance.  

"The National Maritime Council and the Presidential Office for Maritime Concerns carry this inheritance into the present, sustaining the growth of Philippine agriculture, energy, commerce, and science. Effective maritime governance, therefore, requires foresight equal to its scale, the capacity to translate geography into strategy, and stewardship into prosperity, in mastering our seas lies the strength of our economy, the safety of our communities, and the dignity of our sovereignty," he said.

The chief executive also urged institutions to align science with law  and communities to embrace stewardship as identity. He further called on leaders to govern with horizons beyond their own time.

He further said that the celebration of MANA Mo 2025 "is a clarion call to rediscover and reclaim our provenance as a seafaring country."

He stressed the country's long history as a seafaring nation, saying "the sea has been both our cradle and our crucible."

"The Philippines has always been a seafaring nation. Long before chronicles were written or borders drawn, our ancestors were already steering their balangays across the currents, linking islands into networks of trade, kinship, and faith," he said.

"In those same waters, colonizers imposed their dominion, and our forebears waged their resistance. Later, we crossed the vast Pacific to trade silver and spices, shaping the first intimations of a truly globalized economy," he added.

"Every century of our history has been measured by its tides, carrying the seeds of prosperity and the storms of conflict. Its waters forged the bond that turned our islands into a cohesive whole," he stated.