Marcos to Armed Forces: Defend...

previously,” he added.

The Philippines and China are embroiled in a longstanding dispute over some parts of the South China Sea, where more than $5 trillion in goods passes through every year. Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei and Taiwan also have overlapping claims in the area.

In 2016, an arbitral court based in The Hague invalidated China’s historic claims in the South China Sea but the Chinese government refused to recognize the ruling.

“We still need to fight for the rights of every Filipino because the Philippines is a sovereign nation, the Philippines has a functioning government and that functioning government includes the members of the military and that is why it remains to be our duty to protect the country, to protect our citizens,” Marcos said.

Marcos expressed confidence that soldiers would “always stand up to the challenges that the Philippines faces in the best tradition of the military, in the best tradition of our heroes that have gone past.”

“Once again, we continue to see heroes being made in our military. Keep up the good work. The country thanks you. The country is counting on you,” he said.

“The Armed Forces has never failed the country