THE Philippines will continue to build alliances and stage joint combat drills in disputed waters to defend its territorial interests, Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said today.

Mr Teodoro bluntly criticised Beijing’s actions in the South China Sea, without citing China by name, in a speech before the military’s top brass at a ceremony marking the anniversary of the Philippine navy’s founding in Manila.

Since territorial hostilities with China surged last year in the region, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s administration has taken steps to forge new security alliances with a number of Asian and Western countries and allowed a US military presence in more Philippine bases under a 2014 defence pact.