CONCEPT OF NATIONAL SECURITY to territorial integrity entails the maintenance of a
harmonious relationship between its political systems
OBJECTIVES:
A. Understand deeply that the national security is
everybody’s concern;
B. Develop awareness of the various factors that can
lead to aggression and violence;
C. Encourage other students to be more vigilant and
alert of any elements that may cause threats to our
national security.
OVERVIEW
Since the emergence of territorially based
states as the political organizing principle in Europe
after 1648, the concept of security for the past 400
years predominantly meant “protection from organized
violence.”
According to McNamara (1968), security
includes the promotion of economic, political, and social
development in “poor nations” as:
 A means of preventing conflicts; and
 Preserving a minimal measure of “global order”
and stability.
Based on the 1992 UNDP Human Development
Report by Dr. Mahbubul Haq, the new approaches to
security emphasize the critical interrelationship among
the most daunting threats to human survival. Security
of all people everywhere- in their homes, their jobs, in
the streets, in their communities, and the
environment.
We are entering a new era of human security where
the concept of security will change, and change
dramatically. Security will be interpreted as:
 Security of people, not just territory;
 Security of individuals; not just nations; and
 Security through development, not through
arms.
DIFINITION:
 Security is a condition or state of being where the
Filipino people’s values, way of life, institutions,
welfare and wellbeing sovereignty and strategic
locations are protected and enhanced.
According to Leozek Busgynski, ASEAN IV National
Security in the Part Cold War Era, the absence of threat
and values the external environment.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
1. Subversion- It is a group of a conspiracy seeking to
alter an existing system or government through deceit
and other unlawful means, or it is an act of an individual
or group who seeks to alter an existing system through
deceitful means.
2. Communism- It is a theory that advocates the
elimination of private Ownership. It tends to make
society stateless and classless.
 Agitation- It is a subversive technique to arouse
hatred and anger among the people.
 Propaganda- It is a line of persuasion to influence
the belief, emotional behavior, attitude, and
opinion of the target audience.
 Infiltration- Deception used in legal activities. This is
used to exert influence and if possible, seize control
of target groups.
 Politics- it is an art or science concerning winning
and control over a government.
1994: UNDP referred to human security as having the
following two aspects:
1. Safety from such chronic threats as hunger, disease,
and repression;
2. It means protection from sudden and hurtful
disruptions in the patterns of daily life whether in
homes, in jobs, or in communities. Such threats can
exist at all levels of national income and development.
UNDP listed the threats to human security under the
following main categories:
 Economic security- is the condition of having
stable income or other resources to support a
standard of living now and in the foreseeable
future.
 Food Security- Food security, as defined by the
United Nations’ Committee on World Food
Security, means that all people, at all times,
have physical, social, and economic access to
sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets
their food preferences and dietary needs for an
active and healthy life.
  Health Security- is defined as the activities
required, both proactive and reactive, to
minimize the danger and impact of acute public
health events that endanger people’s health
across geographical regions and international
boundaries.
 Environmental Security- is the relative public
safety from environmental dangers caused by
natural or human processes due to ignorance,
accident, mismanagement or design and
originating within or across national borders.
 Personal Security- means freedom from
violence, the threat of violence, harassment,
Secretary; and the Secretaries of Foreign Affairs, National
hazing, abuse of supervisor's authority, verbal
Defense, Interior and Local Government, Justice, and
abuse and discrimination.
Employment (called ministers before 1987).
 Community Security- refers to the approach to
implement human security, human
development, and state building concepts at
local level
 Political Security- It was defined as the
prevention of government repression,
systematic violation of human rights and threats
from militarization.
Human Security and Human Development
“Human security, in its broadest sense,
embraces far more than the absence of violent conflict.
It encompasses human rights, good governance, access
to education and health care, and ensuring that each
has opportunities and choices to fulfill his or her
potential.
National Security and Human Security
Every step in this direction is also a step
towards reducing the poverty, achieving economic
growth, and preventing conflict. Freedom from want,
freedom from fear, and freedom of future generations
to inherit a healthy natural environment- these are the
interrelated building blocks of humans- and therefore
national security.
National Security (NSC Permanent Secretariat)
 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 mandates civilian control of
the military and establishes the President as
commander-inchief 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 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; the AFP
chief of staff;
National Security Council director; the Executive
 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. The
Secretary of National Defense, by law a civilian, was
charged with advising the President on defense
matters and developing defense policy.
 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 NSC's function is to advise the President with
respect to the integration of domestic, foreign, and
military policies relating 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 national security.
Threats to National Security
 Many security threats to the Philippines are non-
military in nature. Pressing security concerns like
terrorism, poverty, and environmental degradation
needs to be addressed in an informed and
intelligent manner.
 In its internal aspect, national security relates to the
defense of the nation's government against hostile
local elements seeking its replacement with their
own government. In this sense, national security
refers to the measures aimed at countering
 domestic or internal challenges to the existing
political and socio-economic order.
 In its external aspects, national security is
concerned with safeguarding the state against
outside or foreign forces, pressures, or influence
designed to conquer it or undermine its
sovereignty, or place it under the domination or
control of some foreign state or states. In this
sense, national security embraces the defense
arrangements directed at insuring the safety of the
state against foreign intervention or domination.
Types of Threats
1. Rebellion or Insurrection. A refusal of obedience or
order. It may, therefore, be seen as encompassing a
range of behaviors from civil disobedience and violent
resistance, to violent and organized attempts to destroy
an established authority such as the government.
2. Terrorism- The systematic use of terror especially as
a means of coercion.
 At present, the International community has been
unable to formulate a universally agreed, legally
binding, and criminal law definition of terrorism.
 Common definitions of terrorism refer only to those
violent acts which intended to create fear (terror),
are perpetrated for an ideological goal, and
deliberately target or disregard the safety of non-
combatants (civilians).
3. Murder- Is defined in most countries, is the unlawful
killing of another with intent (or malice aforethought),
and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder
from other forms of homicide.
4. Kidnapping and Serious Illegal Detention- The taking
away or transportation of a person against the person's
will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a
confinement without legal authority. This may be done
for ransom or in furtherance of another crime, or in
connection with a child custody dispute.
5. Hijacking/Highway Robbery- The crime of taking or
attempting to take something of value by force or
threat of force and or by putting the victim in fear. In
common law, robbery is defined as taking the property
of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the
person of that property, by means of force or fear.
6. Crimes involving destruction- it may apply either as a
measurable degree of damage up to and including a
state beyond use or repair, or it may indicate a state
wherein such damage is occurring and continuing.
Something 'being destroyed' is in a 'state of destruction.
e.g. Self-destructive behaviors, suicide, demolition.
There are seven fundamental elements that lie
at the core of, and therefore further amplify our
definition of national security. At the same dime, they
constitute the most important challenges we face as a
nation and people:
a) Socio-Political Stability
b) Territorial Integrity
c) Economic Solidarity and Strength
d) Ecological Balance
e) Cultural Cohesiveness
f) Moral-Spiritual Consensus
g) External Peace or International Harmony
A. Socio-political stability. We must attain peace and
harmony among all Filipinos, regardless of political
religion, ethnicity or social position.
B. Territorial Integrity. We must ensure the absolute
inviolability and efficient governance of our national
territory by the Government and the state.
C. Economic Solidarity and Strength. We have develop
a free market economy diligently through responsible
entrepreurship focused on social conscience respect for
labor integrity and consideration for the public interest.
We have to establish an economic system where people
take control of their own lives, livelihood and economic
destiny.
D. Ecological balance. Dealing with industrial and
agricultural development and population growth,
national stability depends on the effective protection of
our natural environment. Sustainable development
needs to be supported alongside social justice.
E. Cultural Cohesiveness. A shared set of values and
beliefs established on strong moral and ethical
principles, drawn from our heritage and embodying a
Filipino tradition, drawn from our heritage and
embodying a Filipino identity that transcends religious,
ethnic and linguistic differences must define our lives as
a nation.
F. Moral- spiritual consensus. We must be driven by a
national vision inspired and manifested by a patriotism,
national pride, and the advancement of national goals
in our words and deeds.
G. External Peace. We must seek positive and cordial
connections with all the nations and people, even as our
nation itself must set an independent a free of external
influence and intervention or threat of aggression .
Internal Threats
Our National Security concern is infused with
four important dimensions. Internal threats to our
national security make up the first dimension.
1. Moro lslamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Abu
Sayyaf Group (ASG)
2. Communist Party of the Philippines/New People's
Army/National Democratic Front (CPP/NPA/NDF)
3. Organized crime
4. Grave incidence of poverty
5. Economic sabotage
6. Graft and corruption
7. Severe calamities
8. Persistent environment degradation
1. The main internal threat comes from the Communists
Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army/ National,
Democratic Font (CPP-NPANDF) which continue to pose
a serious threat to national security and do inhumane
activities.
 The communists rebellion in the country is
spearheaded by the communists Party of the
Philippines (CPP) which functions as the “brains”
that provided direction and leadership to the
movement.
 The New People’s Army (NPA) which function as the
“sword” that provides the military force to protect
the party that defeat Armed Forces of the
Philippines (AFP).
 The National Democratic Font (NDF) that acts as the
“shield” to party the blows from the Government
and protect the armed struggle through legal
parliamentary.
2. The threat from the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), which is
having aliases of “al-Hakarat”, Al-Islamiyyah, “Bearer of
the Sword”, “Father of the Swordsman”.
 They are formed in 1991 during the peace process
between Philippine Government and the
nationalist/Separatist group, the Moro National
Liberation Front (MNLF). Angered by the movement
towards a peaceful resolution, certain MNLF
members formed Abu Sayyaf.
3. Organized Crime is a security concern. In particular,
the issue of illegal drugs has become a major threat to
the national community over the nationwide with
42,979, approximately 12 percent are affected in
varying degrees.
4. Grave incidence of Poverty is also a serious to
National Security, especially to the extend that it breeds
and abets rebellion, crime and dissidence. Around one
third of Filipino families are affected by the incidence of
poverty.
5. Economic sabotage undermines the market economy,
the financial system and the nation’s resources. Within
this group, illegal activities such as counterfeiting,
money laundering, ocean fishing and etc.
6. Graft and corruption has become another to our
national security by virtue of the huge scale by which it
saps public resources, undermines the morale of the
civil service and affects the delivery of quality basic
service.
7. Severe calamities causes serious food shortage, abet
hoarding and profiteering and cause hunger, disease
and deprivation.
8. Persistent Environment Degradation poses a long-
term security threat. The degradation of forests and
watersheds, air-land-water contamination and the
accumulation of hazardous pollutants are causing
disease, mortality and declining national prosperity in
areas of security and law enforcement, and is
organizational area of concern in the education system.
External Threats
The growing uncertainties that lie in the
regional and global milieu make up the second
dimension of our national security concerns even as
threat of external aggression against our country
remains in the remote horizon.
1. Smuggling of firearms and contraband, illegal
migration and the occasional movement of foreign
terrorists through the porous borders of our south-
western frontier
2. Lingering effects of the currency crisis affecting the
countries within the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN)
3. Serious economic disparity between rich and poor
nations in many cases keeps the world in a state of
crisis and literally on the verge of war. Tensions are
 already causing local or regions shortage of water,
food, fisheries, electricity and arable land.
4. Ethnic, religious and cultural conflict Origin pervade
many religions and nations, including ours. Extreme
poverty, inadequate access to education, denial of
human rights, a lack of national integration and
foreign problems are continuously exacerbating it.
5. Proliferation of weapons of mass destruction
(WMD) is a threat to global security. Nowadays,
nuclear materials and technologies are more
obtainable that any time in history. The relatives of
both nuclear, chemical and biological weapons
development has made them desirable to terrorists.
6. Transnational organized crimes has proliferated in
the era of globalization. There are connections
between drug trafficking terrorism, illegal alien
smuggling,significant financial bank fraud, arms
smuggling and political corruptions.
7. Natural disasters and environmental issues will
continue to pervade the global security agenda.
Global human activities especially population
growth, resource usage, pollution, urbanization,
desertification, and deforestation will increasingly
change of climate and weather patterns, strain
fragile ecosystems, and bring more pressure on
health and social assistance systems.
Activity 2:
If you are given to the overall in-charge of the National
Security Council of the country, what will be your three
(3) priority programs for your countrymen? Explain.
INPUT NO.2: UNDERSTANDING VALUES OF PEACE
PEACE DEFINED
The concept of peace may varies according to people
who give meaning to it, based on the work they do and
the work they do and the cultural context they come
from. Some of these concepts are:
1. “Peace is not just the absence of war. It is the
wholeness of life where every person can live with
dignity.” (Mindanao Church Peace Congress, 1996)
2. “The new peace is development.” (Pope Paul VI,
Populorum Progressio)
Peace should be viewed in different levels
1. Personal Level refers to the development of inner
harmony or inner integration characterized by such
qualities as self-respect, self confidence, ability to cope
with negative feelings (fear, anger, insecurity, and
shame), and developing positive attitudes such as
cheerfulness and optimism.
2. Interpersonal Level is manifested by the relationship
of an individual with one another. The interpersonal
level peace can be shown in terms of:
a. Assertiveness- the capacity of the individual to
express one’s views or exercise one’s right without
being aggressive (injuring or violating the rights to
others) or submissive (denying one’s views or
rights).
b. Respect- to recognize the worth of others
regardless of differences in social position, culture,
origin, ethnic grouping or gender.
c. Concern for others- an awareness and
understanding of their needs, feelings and condition
and extending of their needs, feelings, and
condition and extending appropriate consideration
for such.
d. Cooperation- the capacity and willingness to work
with others to achieve a common goal.
e. Open-mindedness- the willingness to approach
difficult sources of information, people, events with
critical but open mind.
f. Humility- the virtue to accept and recognize that
the others may have the ability similar or maybe
more than you have and that recognition enables
you to accept your own limitations.
3. Social/National Level-
Is concerned with addressing issues that affect the
society and its social, political, and economic
components.
a. Social Responsibility- an awareness of one’s
responsibility for the common welfare and the
willingness as well as the readiness to work for it.
b. Interdependence- an awareness of the impact of
the decisions and the actions of individuals and
groups on one another.
c. Social Justice- Requires an awareness and
recognition of the civil, political, economic, social,
cultural rights, especially of the more marginalized
sectors of the society and the willingness to
promote and defend them.
4. Global Level
 Is similar to the social and national level peace,
global level peace is concerned with the attaining
related issues that have global impact or scale such
issues include among others the issue of unfair
trade relations, racial discriminations, terrorisms,
militarization, environmental degradation, and
others.
a. Respect for the environment- the value of
recognizing the importance of the resources in the
environment as indicated by the act of preserving
and conserving them. Also, the efforts initiated to
protect the resources of the environment.
b. Unity in the oneness of humankind- the value of
recognizing the importance of being one with other
humans as the semblance of God’s power and love.
It is a recognition that everyone is as important as
the other.
c. Religious Appreciation- the ability to respect and
appreciate the presence of people with other
religious beliefs other than his own.
d. Cultural Appreciation- a recognition of the presence
of different cultures and such differences gives us
the opportunity to learn from one another.
INPUT NO. 3: CREATING CULTURE AND PEACE
 PEACE EDUCATION is holistic response as it is
concerned with the issues, and problems including
militarization, structural violence, human rights,
cultural solidarity, environmental care, and personal
peace. It sees the interconnection between theory
and practice and recognizes the links among the
various transformative goals and strategies (Toh,
1997).
 Peace Education aims to develop international
understanding and universal brotherhood.
Some countries that have peace education
initiatives have common concerns such as:
1. Addressing violence at all levels;
2. Providing the individuals with understanding of the
forces and factors within the social system;
3. Developing future world that is less violent, more
just and secure;
4. Promoting the symbolic relationship between
humans and nature;
5. Eliminating the threats of war, violence, and
environmental destruction; and
6. Aiming for a peaceful equitable and ecologically
sustainable future.
Peace Education aims to develop among its students the
values of:
1. Understanding multi-cultural society;
2. Inculcating peace to the youth and promoting peace
among nations;
3. Resolving conflict peacefully;
4. Love for the other persons;
5. Self-esteem, cooperation, communication,
environmental concerns, and multi-cultural and
global awareness; and
6. Attaining inner peace.
Culture of Peace
 A Culture of Peace (COP) is achieved when citizens
of the world understand global problems, have the
skills to resolve conflicts and struggle for justice
non-violently, live by international standards of
human rights and equity, appreciate culture
diversity, and respect the Earth and each other.
(Hague Appeal for Peace Global campaign for Peace
Education)
 Culture- is established in a human society composed
of the spiritual aspects where values, meanings, and
worldviews are developed; and the material aspect
consists of language, gestures, symbols and rituals,
and styles.
 According to Taylor, the classic definition of
culture is “That complex whole which includes
knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs,
and any other acquired by human as a member
of a society.”
Roles of School in Promoting Values of Peace
 Peaceful pedagogies or strategies in teaching
 Disarmament education, discourage parents from
buying war toys.
 Avoid sexist curriculum, language curriculum
 Encourage student’s cooperative/collaborative
activities rather than competitive one.
 Encourage students to discuss the roots of conflict
so that they can propose alternative ways of solving
them peacefully.