DND Chief Says PH Needs 'Expeditionary Navy'

27 September 2026

An expeditionary navy is a naval force designed to deploy, fight, and sustain military operations in foreign, distant, or contested coastal and littoral (near-shore) environments without relying on permanent local bases (photo: PN)

MANILA – Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. on Thursday said the Philippines needs to have an "expeditionary navy" capable of protecting Filipino merchant ships and its crews while sailing in the high seas.

"We need an expeditionary navy to be able to protect Filipino seafarers and Filipino vessels in the high seas alongside like-minded countries," he said during the 3rd Balangay Forum held in Makati City as part of the country's celebration of this year's Maritime Archipelagic Awareness Nation Month (MANAMo).

An expeditionary navy is defined as a naval force capable of operating well out from its home shores and sustain operations in remote areas.

The Defense chief said this capability is needed as the Philippines starts to develop and expand its merchant shipping fleet.

"It's not only a question of pure profitability, but one of reserves and one of reserve capacity, which no country can afford to lose, as we saw in the pandemic," he pointed out.

Teodoro stressed that there is no "entitlement in the world, no governance" that can exist without some backbone, referring to a credible defense force.

"And that backbone at the end of the day is the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). Your reputational risk as a country, political calculations in the ability of the country to protect human and other forms of capital, both domestic and foreign, which enter into the investment calculus, are measured by the ability of a government to be able to enforce its own laws and regulations fairly, evenly, and with certainty," he said.

Enforcement means the ability of the government to compel behavior in accordance with its norms, he said.

"Absent (of) that capability, particularly with a more competitive and more volatile world, it would be an exercise in near futility," he said.

This is why the Philippines is developing the capacity of the AFP to enforce, in coordination with law enforcement agencies, in a sustainable and logistically secure and sound manner Philippine law and the norms that we have agreed to in international treaties, he added.

"The Philippines cannot be a mere signatory to treaties and espousing norms that (at) the end of the day are our principal weaknesses. We cannot continue to be a voice without muscle," he said. 

(PNA)