ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider PH-US 'Task Force Philippines' to boost maritime coordination—Marcos

PH-US 'Task Force Philippines' to boost maritime coordination—Marcos

Published Nov 1, 2025 06:49 pm
President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. answers questions from the members of the press during a Kapihan with the Philippine media delegation after attending the APEC 2025 Korea on Nov. 1, 2025, at Signiel Busan, Haeundae, Busan, South Korea. (YUMMIE DINGDING / PPA POOL)
President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. answers questions from the members of the press during a Kapihan with the Philippine media delegation after attending the APEC 2025 Korea on Nov. 1, 2025, at Signiel Busan, Haeundae, Busan, South Korea. (YUMMIE DINGDING / PPA POOL)
BUSAN, South Korea — President Marcos said the creation of Task Force Philippines with the United States aims to improve coordination between the two militaries in safeguarding freedom of navigation in the West Philippine Sea.
In an interview on the sidelines of the 32nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting here, the President described the new unit as a way to “organize ourselves into a more cohesive unit” amid ongoing tensions in the South China Sea.
“It’s basically organizing ourselves into a more cohesive unit in terms of the protection of the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea — the West Philippine Sea for us,” he said Saturday evening, Nov. 1.
The President said the task force will involve both Filipino and American forces and will help them “establish procedure so as to be able to operate together.”
He added that the initiative requires creating “a new structure to make maximum use of the time we’re doing these exercises,” citing differences in participating vessels and military equipment.

‘Not meant to heighten tensions’

Asked how the task force differs from previous security mechanisms, Marcos said the main distinction lies in the composition and technical coordination between the two sides.
“At the very least, the difference is because the vessels are different. We have to learn to work with a different set of parameters,” he said.
The President expressed hope that the task force would “lower the tensions in the West Philippine Sea, certainly not heighten them.”
“It’s not something new. Nagkakaroon lang ng heightening of tension pag may sumubok ng bago (Tensions only rise when someone tries something new). That’s not what’s going to happen,” he said.

No talks with Xi

Meanwhile, President Marcos said he didn’t raise the issue of the West Philippine Sea dispute with Chinese President Xi Jinping as the venue was not appropriate.
“This is not the time nor the place to talk about the West Philippine Sea. You will not achieve anything by having a meeting about that,” he said.
According to the President, he just made sure to approach Xi and congratulate him on succeeding South Korea’s chairship of APEC.
In addition, Marcos explained that there were no requests from either the Philippine or Chinese side for the two presidents to have a talk during the APEC summit.

Related Tags

President Marcos Bongbong Marcos APEC 2025 Xi Jinping PH-US PH-China
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.