MANILA - The incoming chief of the Department of National Defense committed Monday to prioritize the protection of the country's sovereignty and respect for human rights, among others.

"We will do our best that all programs of the department will focus on protecting and defending the sovereignty of the country, to respect human rights and international humanitarian law, address the root causes of internal conflict, and make sure to implement the order of the president that ‘not a single square inch of the territory is surrendered’," incoming Defense Secretary Jose Faustino Jr. said.

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“As the OIC (officer-in-charge) of the Department of National Defense, I will be constantly aligning with the vision of the president of a stronger and better Philippines through nation-building, economic recovery, and most of all, national unity,” he said in a statement.

The former Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff stressed that “national security is synonymous to human security.”

Faustino noted that while the DND will continue to protect the country's territory, it will also continue to engage with regional neighbors.

The Philippines is locked in a dispute with China over the West Philippine Sea, a part of the South China Sea that Manila says it has sovereign rights over. China continues to claim the South China Sea in its near entirety and aggressively asserts it despite an arbitration court invalidating it.

Domestically, Faustino said the DND under him will have a good “collaborative and consultative relationship” with other state agencies.

The department will cater to other major concerns and security challenges, such as climate change and natural disasters, terrorism, support to law enforcement to address criminality and illegal drugs, and cybersecurity, he said.

“We will continuously support the successful programs of the peace agreement with the MILF and MNLF,” he said.

It will continue the campaign to end local communist armed conflict, he added.

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Faustino vowed to continue the department’s momentum in the modernization of the AFP and to enhance their capability.

“We are now on the third horizon of the AFP modernization—building a more reliable and credible AFP in strengthening territorial or external defense capability,” the retired general said.

Faustino will succeed Delfin Lorenzana as secretary of the DND. He will serve as senior undersecretary and defense secretary in an officer-in-charge capacity before assuming as secretary on November 13, 2022.

Faustino will be the country’s 37th defense chief.

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