National Security Council (Philippines)
Encyclopedia
National Security Council (NSC) is the Philippine President's principal forum for considering national security
National security
National security is the requirement to maintain the survival of the state through the use of economic, diplomacy, power projection and political power. The concept developed mostly in the United States of America after World War II...

 and foreign policy
Foreign policy
A country's foreign policy, also called the foreign relations policy, consists of self-interest strategies chosen by the state to safeguard its national interests and to achieve its goals within international relations milieu. The approaches are strategically employed to interact with other countries...

 matters with his senior national security advisors and cabinet officials.

History

Commonwealth Act No. 1, also known as the National Defense Act, is the original policy basis of the national security program of the Republic of the Philippines.

The 1987 Constitution
Constitution of the Philippines
The Constitution of the Philippines is the supreme law of the Philippines.The Constitution currently in effect was enacted in 1987, during the administration of President Corazon Aquino, and is popularly known as the "1987 Constitution"...

 mandates civilian control of the military and establishes the president as commander in chief of the armed forces. The President also heads the National Security Council, ostensibly the policy-making and advisory body for matters connected with national defense. Former President Corazon Aquino
Corazon Aquino
Maria Corazon Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino was the 11th President of the Philippines and the first woman to hold that office in Philippine history. She is best remembered for leading the 1986 People Power Revolution, which toppled Ferdinand Marcos and restored democracy in the Philippines...

 reestablished the council in 1986 through an executive order that provided for a National Security Council director to advise the president on national security matters and for a National Security Council Secretariat. The council itself is composed of the president and at least nine others: the Vice President
Vice President of the Philippines
-Description:The Vice-President is the first in the Philippine line of succession, assuming the Presidency upon the death, resignation, or removal by impeachment and subsequent conviction of the incumbent. The position was abolished by Martial Law in 1972, and was not included in the original text...

; the AFP chief of staff; National Security Council director; the Executive Secretary
Executive Secretary (Philippines)
The Executive Secretary of the Philippines is the head and highest ranking official serving in Cabinet of the Philippines and the head of the Office of the President of the Philippines. The office-holder has been nicknamed as the "Little President" due to the nature of the position...

; and the Secretaries of Foreign Affairs
Department of Foreign Affairs (Philippines)
The Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs is the executive department of the Philippine government tasked to contribute to the enhancement of national security and the protection of the territorial integrity and national sovereignty, to participate in the national endeavor of sustaining...

, National Defense
Department of National Defense (Philippines)
The Department of National Defense is the executive department of the Philippine government responsible for guarding against external and internal threats to peace and security in the country...

, Interior and Local Government
Department of the Interior and Local Government (Philippines)
The Philippines' Department of the Interior and Local Government is the executive department of the Philippine Government responsible for promoting peace and order, ensuring public safety, and strengthening the capabilities of local government units...

, Justice
Department of Justice (Philippines)
The Department of Justice , abbreviated as DOJ, is the executive department of the Philippine government responsible for upholding the rule of law in the Philippines...

, and Labor and Employment
Department of Labor and Employment (Philippines)
The Philippines' Department of Labor and Employment is the executive department of the Philippine Government mandated to formulate policies, implement programs and services, and serve as the policy-coordinating arm of the Executive Branch in the field of labor and employment...

 (called ministers before 1987). By the end of 1990, however, the National Security Council had only convened twice.

Responsibility for national security was vested in the Department of National Defense. The principal functions of the department in 1991 were to defend the state against internal and external threats and, through the Philippine National Police
Philippine National Police
The Philippine National Police is the national police force of the Republic of the Philippines. It is both a national and a local police force in that it does provides all law enforcement services throughout the Philippines...

, to maintain law and order. The Secretary of National Defense, by law a civilian, was charged with advising the president on defense matters and developing defense policy.

In 2002, Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is a Filipino politician who served as the 14th President of the Philippines from 2001 to 2010, as the 12th Vice President of the Philippines from 1998 to 2001, and is currently a member of the House of Representatives representing the 2nd District of Pampanga...

 has won crucial backing from her cabinet and the Congress for the deployment of US soldiers in the country as part of the war on terrorism. The President convened a meeting of the country's National Security Council during that time, in a bid to pull wavering officials, including her vice-president into line and smooth over differences in her administration over the issue. Arroyo insisted her oppositions to marshal support for her stance to back a U.S.-led campaign against terrorism, not only to implement a unanimous UN Security Council resolution calling on U.N. members to bring the perpetrators to justice but also the Philippines' strategic alliance with the United States and to assist the global campaign to end the scourge of terrorism.

National Security Advisor (NSA) and Director-General serve as Chief of Staff and adviser for Special Concerns in National Security to the President. The NSA has a Cabinet rank in the government. The current Chief is Cesar Garcia
Cesar Garcia
Cesar Garcia is the former Director General of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency in the Philippines. He is a graduate of the Philippine Military Academy class of 1970....

.

Functions

The NSC's function is to advise the President with respect to the integration of domestic, foreign, and military policies relating to the national security. The NSC also serves as the President's principal arm for coordinating these policies among various government departments and agencies in matters involving the national security.
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