President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. preside over the second sectoral meeting addressing power issues in Cagayan Valley due to shutdown of Magat Hydroelectric Power Plant on Tuesday, March 26, 2024.  Yummie Dingding, PPA Pool

MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has reorganized several agencies in charge of the Philippines’ maritime security, saying the move was needed as the country “continues to confront a range of serious challenges that threaten not only the country’s territorial integrity.”

Marcos Jr.’s Executive Order No. 57 — also known as “Strengthening the Philippines’ Maritime Security and Maritime Domain Awareness — renamed and reorganized the National Coast Watch System (NCWS) into the National Maritime Council (NMC) which will be the “central body in charge of formulating policies and strategies to ensure a unified, coordinated and effective governance framework for the country’s maritime security and domain awareness.”

RELATED: Marcos says Philippines will not be 'cowed into silence' by China

“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 or threat,” the EO read.

“Strengthening the country’s maritime security and domain awareness is imperative to comprehensively tackle the crosscutting issues that impact the nation’s security, sovereignty, sovereignty rights and maritime jurisdiction over its extensive maritime zones,” it said.

The NMC will be headed by the Executive Secretary, while its members will include the heads of the following departments:

The National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea, which was created in 2016, will be an attached agency that will “orchestrate and synchronize the employment of the capabilities of different national government agencies to achieve unified action in the WPS.”

The NMC’s secretariat will be known as the Presidential Office for Maritime Concerns, and will be headed by the Presidential Assistant for Maritime Concerns, a position that former military chief Andres Centino will hold.

Centino will “directly report to the President on critical and urgent matters and issues affecting the country’s maritime security and domain awareness,” state media reported.

Under the same EO, the National Maritime Center will “gather, consolidate, synthesize and disseminate information relevant to the country’s maritime security and domain awareness” as well as “coordinate the conduct of maritime surveillance upon the request of a member-agency or when an exigency arises.”

“The National Maritime Center shall remain under the leadership of the Philippines Coast Guard,” the EO read.

“The National Maritime Center is hereby authorized to accept donations, contributions, grants, bequests or gifts from domestic or foreign sources for purposes relevant to their mandates and functions,” it read.

Help from security partners

Last year, the Philippines became the first recipient of Japan’s Official Security Assistance fund as Tokyo sought to boost Manila’s maritime capabilities to maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific, and to protect its interests in the South China Sea and the Luzon Straight.

Next week, Marcos Jr. is expected to travel to Washington DC to attend a trilateral meeting with US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

While discussions will include trade and cybersecurity, an official from the National Security Council earlier said that the Philippines’ maritime concerns will rank “high on the agenda.”

The reorganization of the Philippines’ maritime offices and Marcos Jr.’s trip to the US comes as China continues to assert its illegal rights in West Philippine Sea, a claim which has already been junked by an international arbitration court in 2016.

Last week, 3 Filipinos were hurt after Chinese Coast Guard vessels blasted water cannons at a Philippine resupply boat near Ayungin Shoal, while several scientists were also injured following a Chinese helicopter’s dangerous maneuvers near Sandy Cay.

READ: Filipino scientists in Pag-asa Island 'harassed', injured by China aircraft: BFAR

Both the Ayungin Shoal and Sandy Cay are part of the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.

Last week, Marcos Jr. said that Manila has contacted partners who have “have offered to help us on what the Philippines requires to protect and secure our Sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction while ensuring peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific.”

He added that the Philippines is preparing “a response and countermeasure package that is proportionate, deliberate, and reasonable" to China's actions in the West Philippine Sea.

“We seek no conflict with any nation, more so nations that purport and claim to be our friends but we will not be cowed into silence, submission, or subservience,” Marcos Jr. said in a statement released on Maundy Thursday.

“Filipinos do not yield."