Realizing that the country’s ill-equipped naval force could hardly secure its maritime borders from poachers and smugglers, former Defense Secretary and Lakas-Kampi-CMD (Christian, Muslim, Democrats) presidential candidate Gilberto "Gibo" Teodoro Jr. has batted for greater security agreements with member-countries in the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines-East Asia Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA).

In particular, Teodoro has called for border patrol agreements involving the BIMP-EAGA nations, saying "our weakness in this area can be compensated for by our allies."

"This is a sensible option," said Teodoro in a press briefing here, as he revealed that the Philippine Navy is seven years away from securing its truly modern ship in 2017.

The former Defense chief said the country’s naval force with its small fleet "can’t truly protect our maritime borders from the incursions of poachers and smugglers."

He pointed out that security agreements with the BIMP-EAGA nations will greatly help in bringing peace and stability to the region because the joint border patrols could be used in curbing high-seas smuggling of narcotics and weapons, and even cross-border terrorism.

The BIMP-EAGA promotes trade and investments in the sub-region through facilitating access to information by the private sector, helping it identify and take advantage of business opportunities in the area.

It also allows policy makers to identify and address issues affecting the investment climate.

The BIMP-EAGA has more than 20 million trade and investment-related statistics and documents covering the four-member countries.

Its content and design reflect feedback from wide-ranging stakeholder consultations held in each country and the contributions of 12 national government agencies and various local government units.