**Abstract**

The importation of exotic aquatic species for aquaculture has become a worldwide practice. Culturing the Pacific whiteleg shrimp, *Penaeus vannamei*, outside its natural geographic range, however, can cause many problems. We evaluated the implications of the aquacultural introduction of *P. vannamei* to the Philippines waters both on ecological and social aspects. Several questions were answered and discussed based on literature, scientific details, reflections on personal experience and their relevance to aquaculture of the *P. vannamei* in the Philippines to evaluate the ecological impacts while social impacts were discussed only based on literature. Findings revealed the escapes of *P. vannamei* from aquaculture production facilities of several countries including the Philippines. Consequently, the ability of *P. vannamei* escapees to survive the natural environment could lead to ecological concerns such as resource competition, reproduction, and the spread of disease in the wild. On the other hand, the recent expansion of shrimp culture has resulted in social conflicts with other resource users. Therefore, this review shows the negative implications on the aquacultural introduction of Pacific whiteleg shrimp *P. vannamei* in the Philippines both ecological and social aspect, and this heightens important management issues to ensure sustainable farming of the shrimp in the Philippines.

**Keywords:** exotic organism, intentional release, tolerance, propagule pressure, alien pathogen
