PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Thursday said the Philippines is not waging war despite "external threats" facing the country.

In his speech during his camp visit to the Army's 10th Infantry Division in Mawab, Davao de Oro, the President said the country's military needed to boost its capabilities as it transitioned from internal operations to an external defense posture.

"Now, I am sure that all of you are aware now that the internal threat has been reduced. We now have to also think about the external threat and that again is a different strategy that we will have to employ," Marcos said.

"But we in the civilian government and together with the military commanders are doing all that we can to make sure that our men and women [in military] are completely capacitated," he added.

The President said bolstering the capability of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) did not mean that the Philippines was going to war.

"We are not going to war against anybody. We do not want to put ourselves into anything. We are just being defensive and we are only defending our country," Marcos said.

"That is the new threat that we are facing but like what I said, if you were able to do this for the internal threat, I am confident that you can also do it for what we call external threats," he added.

Marcos said the military has to transition so it could continue performing its mandate to promote the safety of the people and the security of Philippine territory against emerging threats.

He said soldiers would have a partner in the civilian government.

"We will do everything so that you have the capability... to do the job... that you have to face. You have the capability. You have the training. You have the equipment and that we will be able to present at least a deterrent force," he said.

The President also urged the soldiers to be peacekeepers by encouraging communist insurgents to return to the fold of the law.

The Philippines is adopting a paradigm shift in the country's defense strategy through the Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept, which was adopted by the Marcos administration amid China's aggression in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

Manila and Beijing have a long history of maritime territorial disputes, but tensions have worsened under Marcos, who has insisted the Philippines would not give up a "square inch of our territory."

The Philippines had also accused China of "elevating tensions and level of aggression" of Philippine vessels in the WPS with its use of water cannons.

Last March, at least three Philippine soldiers were injured after a water cannon attack by Chinese coast guard vessels attempting to block a Philippine resupply mission in the West Philippine Sea.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion in annual ship commerce. Its territorial claims overlap with those of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.

In 2016, an international arbitration tribunal in The Hague ruled that China's claims over the South China Sea have no legal basis, a decision that Beijing does not recognize.

China the greatest threat

The President's latest remarks came as a new survey showed three out of four Filipinos believe China is a country that poses the greatest threat to the Philippines.

In its Tugon ng Masa poll conducted from March 11 to 14, 2024, the independent pollster OCTA Research found that 76 percent of Filipinos said they believe that China could be a potential threat to the Philippines, down from 79 percent in the previous quarter's survey conducted in December, but well within the nationwide margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.

A distant second among countries perceived by Filipinos to have the greatest threat to the Philippines is Russia, with 9 percent, followed by North Korea, Pakistan, Japan and Saudi Arabia, with responses ranging from 2 percent to 1 percent.

Five percent believed that no countries would be a threat to the Philippines.

Among major areas, respondents in the National Capital Region were the highest in perceiving China as the greatest threat in the country with 86 percent, followed by Balance Luzon at 77 percent, Visayas at 73 percent, and Mindanao at 71 percent.

Socioeconomic Class D was also the highest among those who consider China as a threat with a 77 percent response, followed by Class E at 76 percent and Class ABC at 63 percent.

Visayas and Class ABC respondents were the highest among those who consider Russia as a major threat to the country at 14 and 25 percent respectively.

OCTA said the figure of those who perceived China as the country's greatest threat increased by 17 percent, from 59 percent in the first survey conducted when President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office in October 2022.

In the case of Russia, the percentage of adult Filipinos who perceive it as the greatest threat to the Philippines declined from a high of 15 percent in October 2022, or the survey period that was conducted after the invasion of Ukraine, to 9 percent in March of 2024.

Despite more Filipinos saying that China is the greatest threat to the Philippines, 44 percent also said that China had a positive impact on the country's economy, an increase of 13 percent from the survey conducted in 2022.

The survey had a sample size of 1,200 respondents, while the margin of error for major areas was at plus or minus 6 percent.

The latest survey results were released as the Philippines and China traded accusations over their actions in the West Philippine Sea.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines on Thursday said China's accusation that Filipino troops in the WPS destroyed and seized fishing nets of its fishermen was just part of its "malign influence."

"This latest accusation is yet another example of China's malign influence operation, which seeks to distract from the real issue at hand: their ongoing illegal, coercive, aggressive, and deceptive actions and activities in the West Philippine Sea," AFP spokesman Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said in a message to reporters.

She said Manila remains committed to upholding its sovereignty and protecting its sovereign rights in the WPS.

"We will not dignify these claims with a detailed response. It is important to reiterate that the presence of Chinese vessels within the Philippine exclusive economic zone is illegal and provocative. The Philippines has sovereign rights over these waters, as recognized under international law, specifically the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea," Padilla added.

China's state news agency Xinhua had reported that Philippine Navy troops from the BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal have been destroying and cutting the nets of Chinese fishermen in adjacent waters.

The Philippine Coast Guard, on the other hand, said Chinese vessels had seized food and medical supplies intended for the troops on the BRP Sierra Madre and had dumped them at sea.

China, meanwhile, said troops on the BRP Sierra Madre had drawn their rifles and aimed them at Chinese boats.WITH PNA