Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro revealed that maritime protection and concerns will be one of the priorities that the Philippines will pursue in its chairship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) next year. (Video courtesy of DFA | FB)
00:00The Department of Foreign Affairs joins the nation in celebrating Maritime and Archipelagic Nation Awareness Month, or MANAMO, 2025.
00:10As Filipinos, we take pride in our maritime and archipelagic identity, recognizing the deep ties we have to our ocean and seas.
00:19MANAMO, commemorated in September of every year under Proclamation No. 316 since 2017, offers a dedicated opportunity to reflect on the shared identity and to give importance to the maritime domain.
00:37For this year's celebration, we invite our Filipino community all over the world to work together for a sustainable, secure, and thriving ocean.
00:48The entire Department of Foreign Affairs, including all Foreign Service posts and consulate offices, will hold activities with the aim of increasing awareness of our country's maritime and archipelagic nature.
01:02Through these activities, we hope to develop in every Filipino a shared sense of responsibility on the need to preserve our maritime heritage.
01:13Under this year's theme of nagkakaisang kapuloan, panatag na karagatan, we celebrate the ties that bind us as one maritime nation.
01:24Just as how both land and water come together to form an archipelago, it is our unity that serves as the bulwark through which our security and shared prosperity as Filipinos emerge and is nurtured.
01:39We are not separate from our environment and we thrive together in meaningful coexistence.
01:47This is the spirit with which we work together with international partners and friends to address existential threats
01:56that recognize no border such as sea level rise, climate change, degradation of our coral reefs, and marine plastics pollution.
02:07At the third UN Ocean Conference last June, the Philippines actively participated in highlighting the need to implement the UN Sustainable Development Goal No. 14, which is Life Below Water.
02:22This raise ocean literacy specially among the youth, preserve the marine environment, including through addressing marine plastic pollution,
02:33and uphold the primacy of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
02:38Such as the Philippines' unstinting advocacy that marine and maritime concerns, particularly the protection of the marine environment,
02:46will be a key priority of the Philippines' chairship of ASEAN in 2026.
02:52May this Manamo Month remind us that the waters of our maritime and archipelagic nation are our lifeblood,
03:01sustaining us through challenges and obstacles and emerging us towards greater prosperity and development.
03:09Sa ating karagatan, ang ating kinabukasan, pabuhay ang Pilipinas.
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