Focus on external defence

Touching base: Marcos greeting a crowd during his visit at Cebu city. — AP

THE president said the main mission of his country’s military has changed to ensure the protection of its territory as disputes with China and US-China rivalry intensify.President Ferdinand Marcos Jr stressed the urgency of shifting the military’s focus to external defence in a speech before troops on Monday.

He spoke two weeks after summoning China’s ambassador to protest the use of a military-grade laser by the Chinese coast guard that briefly blinded some of the crew of a Philippine patrol vessel in the South China Sea.