For its fourth year, the 2019 Katipunan Conference centered on the specific transformations in the country's domestic and external security environment. More emphasis was placed on critical strategic issues such as maritime security, political economy and foreign relations, internal conflict, strategic applications of science and technology, and critical military industries. The conference also highlighted a policy speech delivered by a high-ranking official of the Department of National Defense, as well as special panels on future regional strategic and political trends and Philippines-China relations. All these issues are at the forefront of the Duterte administrations National Security Policy and its subsequent National Security Strategy.