PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. urged Filipinos to be conscious of their maritime heritage and come together not only in caring for the Philippines’ seas and shores but also in protecting its sovereignty.
The President, in his message during the observance of the Maritime and Archipelagic Nation Awareness Month (MANA Mo) this September, said the Philippines has always been a seafaring nation “long before chronicles were written or borders drawn.”
“Our ancestors were already steering their balangays across the currents, linking islands into networks of trade, kinship, and faith. In those same waters, colonizers imposed their dominion, and our forebears waged their resistance. Later, we crossed the vast Pacific to trade silver and spices, shaping the first intimations of a truly globalized economy,” he said.
Marcos said that at present, the seas remain the “richest reservoirs of food and widest corridors of trade” as they contribute to sustaining the growth of Philippine agriculture, energy, commerce, and science.
However, he said that while the tides carry the seeds of prosperity, they also bring “the storms of conflict.”
The President emphasized the importance of the observance of the MANA Mo, which he said is a “clarion call to rediscover and reclaim our provenance as a seafaring country”.
Marcos emphasized that by being aware of the country’s maritime history and “in mastering our seas lies the strength of our economy, the safety of our communities, and the dignity of our sovereignty.”
He also highlighted the importance of an effective maritime governance, which “requires foresight equal to its scale, the capacity to translate geography into strategy and stewardship into prosperity”.
