Newly appointed Defense chief Gilbert Teodoro said the Philippines is not a pawn in the geopolitical maneuvering in the South China Sea.
Reacting to Chinese criticism of recent moves by the administration, Teodoro said the Philippines should not be questioned in its initiatives to bolster its defensive capabilities.
“The Philippines is a value proposition by its own self, and is not a pawn of anybody else in the geopolitical battle that’s raging within our area now,” he added. Last month, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno deemed the current MUP system “financially unsustainable” and said it might cause a fiscal collapse in the near future.
“A self-sustaining pension system scheme needs time. You need to build up the fund, and we will need to find sources in order to raise capital for the fund, and we need to grow the fund,” Teodoro said. “In the modernization, the AFP set the horizons. What we will do is to make sure that they get the best at the most affordable cost with the most sustainability as possible,” he added.“To enter into peace talks, I have always been against that,” Teodoro said.
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