National Security Challenges of the Philippines under the Aquino Administration: A Human Security Approach

Abstract

What are the national security challenges facing the new administration of President Benigno S. Aquino III of the Philippines? This paper examines several primary documents and gives an account of the security environment in which the Philippines is situated. It also gives an overview of the national security policy framework that the Aquino Administration uses in responding to security challenges. The main findings are 1) the Philippines is beset by various global, regional, and domestic challenges; 2) these challenges are traditional and non-traditional in nature and thus taken comprehensively by the Philippines; and 3) the Philippines uses a human security approach to its national security concerns. This approach has been accepted by the armed and defense services as the means by which they will also implement their mandates. Such an approach is only a fulfillment of the Philippines’ own constitutional provision which identifies the people as the source of sovereignty. The human security approach however, needs to be further institutionalized through implementation and effective policy frameworks.