Manila, Philippines - Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin told the press conference that Teodoro strongly responded to Marcos’ criticism of China’s increasingly confident actions, and he will remain in his position.

General Nicolas Torre III will be the next head of the 232,000-member National Police. Belsumin said Torre led the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte in March and arrested the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands for a deadly anti-drug crackdown.

Last year, Torre oversaw the arrest of Philippine religious leader Apollo Quiboloy, a major supporter of Duterte, who was placed on the FBI's most respected list after being charged with sexual abuse and trafficking in Torre in the United States.

Marcos asked all his cabinet secretaries to resign last week to see what the government calls a "bold reset" after the May 12 midterm elections, which has enabled more opposition candidates to win important Senate seats.

Marcos, the 67-year-old son of the late 1986 Phillipine dictator, won the presidency of a deeply divided Southeast Asian country through the Mountain Opinion in 2022 as he firmly called for national unity. But his equally popular vice presidential running mate, Sara Duterte, then stood out with him, triggering strong political and discord.

Supported by friendly countries including the United States (a treaty allies), Marcos became China’s most prestigious critic of the controversial South China Sea operation, while fighting a range of long-standing family issues, including inflation, delayed campaign commitments to lower the price of rice, and the coverage and other crimes of many kidnapping and other crimes.

China's active policy in disputed waters is now considered the biggest threat to the Philippines' national security and should also be seen as a global threat, Teodoro told the Associated Press in March, as it could stifle trade routes that are crucial to global supply chains.

"In fact, the biggest external threats are Chinese aggression, China's expansionism and China's attempt to change international law by using force or acquiesce... or its attempt to reshape the world order into a controlled world order," Teodoro told the Associated Press.

Bersamin, who serves as Marcos and the cabinet executive secretary, has not specified the reasons for each cabinet change, but said: "The president is not patient with underperformance."

Bersamin said last week that Marcos' decision to replace Foreign Minister Enrique Manalo with Foreign Deputy Minister Theresa Lazaro, who has spoken with Chinese officials in recent years about the confrontation between China and the Philippine Coast Guard and the Philippine Coast Guard and Naval forces was shocking.

Despite the Philippines’ 2016 international arbitration award, China is in fact the entire South China Sea, a key global trade and security route that invalidates these broad claims, based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan are also involved in the long-standing territorial deadlock considered as Asian flashpoints.