Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. urged the commanders and units in the military "to exert all efforts to operationalize the Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept (CADC).

"In plain language, we are developing our capability to protect and secure our entire territory and Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in order to ensure that our people and all the generations of Filipinos to come shall freely reap and enjoy the bounties of the natural resources that are rightfully ours within our domain," he said.

"I emphasize that this is a strategic action and will not need constant directives to carry out. I, thus, urge our commanders and units in the AFP to exert all efforts to operationalize the CADC," he added.

Col. Xerxes Trinidad, AFP public affairs chief, stressed that the "CADC will cover all land, air, sea, cyber, and information domains and will entail shifts in capability and capacity development, force restructuring, and alliance-building."

"In the performance of our mandate as protector of the people and the state, CADC will allow the AFP to operate in a multi-faceted and fluid security environment," he added.

As the DND and AFP embarked on the implementation of the CADC, Security analyst Rommel Banlaoi said that "the CADC as conceived runs counter to the autonomous defense as it heavily relies on the support and financing of big powers like the US, Japan, Australia and European partners.

"It also relies on the flawed assumption that China is a threat to Philippine defense," he added. DMS