Similarly, the Philippines’ current graft and corruption, to various other external security environment is marked problems besetting much of the by increased uncertainty and developing world including the unpredictability. Rising tensions in the Philippines – i.e., poverty and lopsided South China Sea, which nestles the West development, high crime rate, climate Philippine Sea, have brought to the fore a change and environmental degradation, changing security backdrop in the Asia- spread of infectious diseases, and trans- Pacific region. This has prompted the border threats such as human and drug Philippines, which has not confronted any trafficking, cybercrime, and money external armed threat since it gained full laundering. independence in 1946, to suddenly give the same attention to territorial defense as it does to internal security threats. Since the turn of the millennium, the Filipino people’s understanding of the concept of national security itself has changed dramatically. It is now equated not only to the traditional notions of national defense and regime survival, but also to the overall well-being of the citizens, the promotion of economic The above challenges call for a robust, dynamic and pro-active national security framework and infrastructure, capable of dealing with these growing threats in real time. The development of a national security framework aims to ensure that the country’s “sovereignty, territorial integrity, national interests, and the wellbeing of its people and institutions are preserved, protected and enhanced.” development, and the protection of the environment and natural resources. It serves as a roadmap that guides the State working together with civil More and more, the new outlook links security to broad political and social concerns, from governance issues, such as society and its leaders in setting vital national goals and objectives and the means to achieve these. [4]