Marcos says in mastering PH seas lies economy, sovereignty's strength

As the country celebrates the Maritime and Archipelagic Nation Awareness Month (MANA Mo), President Ferdinand ''Bongbong'' Marcos Jr. on Tuesday underscored that Filipinos should care for the country's shores as mastering the seas will translate to strengthening the nation's economy and sovereignty. 

In his message for MANA Mo 2025, the President said the commemoration is a clarion call to rediscover and reclaim the country's provenance as a seafaring nation. 

''Effective maritime governance, therefore, requires foresight equal to its scale, the capacity to translate geography into strategy, and stewardship into prosperity,'' Marcos said.

''In mastering our seas lies the strength of our economy, the safety of our communities, and the dignity of our sovereignty,'' he said. 

Marcos then urged Philippine institutions to ''align science with law, our communities to embrace stewardship as identity, and our leaders to govern with horizons beyond their own time.''

''As we continue building a Bagong Pilipinas, let us unite our people towards caring for our seas and shores, for we care to protect not only our nation's sovereignty but also those who will inherit our legacy,'' Marcos added. 

Marcos also stressed that the seas remain the richest reservoirs of food as well as the widest corridors of trade.

He said that the National Maritime Council and the Presidential Office for Maritime

Concerns carry this inheritance into the present, ''sustaining the growth of Philippine agriculture, energy, commerce, and science.''

''The sea has been both our cradle and our crucible. Every century of our history has been measured by its tides, carrying the seeds of prosperity and the storms of conflict. Its waters forged the bond that turned our islands into a cohesive whole,'' Marcos said. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News