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Raissa Robles

The Philippines’ military modernisation road map is set for delays over budget constraints, with critics calling out what they say is President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s “lip service” approach and questioning his commitment to the ambitious project.
In 2024, Marcos approved a revised 1.9 trillion Philippine pesos (US$30 billion) plan to acquire newer military assets until 2034, aiming to enhance the capability of the military to project power in parts of the South China Sea that Manila considers its territory, in line with the emphasis on archipelagic defence.
In his State of the Nation Address in July, Marcos vowed to “do all that is necessary to continue upholding” the 2016 arbitral award, under which a tribunal’s ruling in The Hague negated China’s nine-dash line, which overlaps with the Philippines’ claims in the contested waterway.
Defence and security analyst Manuel Mogato called Marcos’ promise “mere lip service”, adding that the yearly budget should be at least 100 billion pesos to achieve military modernisation by 2034.
During the House budget committee hearing last week, Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jnr gave lawmakers a graph that showed the Department of National Defence’s proposed modernisation fund for next year amounted to 126.97 billion pesos. But the Department of Budget and Management reduced it to 50 billion pesos.
Mogato said: “He [Marcos] promised to prioritise modernisation. But he did not give any money [for new military hardware] for next year.”

Meanwhile, the Department of Budget and Management allocated 324 billion pesos in its 2027 expenditure plan for the military and the Department of National Defence, about 43 per cent less than the 572.79 billion pesos budget that Teodoro had proposed.
The allocation prompted Justin Baquisal, a security analyst with local think tank FACTAsia.org, to call it a “massively underfunded” military budget.
Mogato referred to the 50 billion pesos set aside for modernisation next year, saying that the lower budget might not even be enough to pay for military hardware previously bought on credit under a multi-year scheme, which allows the military and the Department of National Defence to buy equipment with a down payment followed by multi-year repayments.
Teodoro showed in the hearing that the repayments due under the scheme next year totalled 56 billion pesos, more than the 50 billion pesos allocated for modernisation. He said he was discussing with Budget Secretary Kim Robert De Leon to release an additional 50 billion pesos.
Teodoro appealed to the lawmakers to help raise the military’s budget, as a shortfall would affect its modernisation.
Due to the budget cuts, there could be no recruitment for the military and the Department of National Defence next year, Teodoro warned. As such, military personnel could be stretched to the limit and have “no time” for rest and recreation and troop rotation, he added.


While the military is slated to receive US$100 million from the US Congress next year, the sum “will not be transferred to our treasury because it’s in the nature of foreign military financing”, according to Teodoro. The priority for this sum would be to finance assets in areas such as coastal defence, maritime security and integrated air defence, he added.
Teodoro said that his department was moving ahead to build a dockyard inside an industrial estate in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental province on the island of Mindanao, run by the Philippine Veterans Investment Development Corporation Industrial Authority, an entity with links to veterans and retirees from the Philippine military.
He said that the construction was delayed due to land title and right-of-way issues. The dockyard would replace the existing naval base in Sangley Point, Cavite on Luzon Island, which would be abandoned since it was now “extremely shallow, extremely small”.
When asked at the hearing if the dockyard could become part of the Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement, under which US forces could have access to designated Philippine military bases, Teodoro said the US Navy could potentially use the site for its ships.
However, he added that with the new Philippine naval assets coming in, the place would be “crammed” and he did not foresee any space for expansion to accommodate US warships.


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Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jnr has warned there could be no military recruits next year due to budget cuts


Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jnr has warned there could be no military recruits next year due to budget cuts.


South China Sea

Ferdinand Marcos Jnr

Defence

Gilberto Teodoro Jnr

Is the Philippine military ‘massively underfunded’?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jnr has warned there could be no military recruits next year due to budget cuts

Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jnr has warned there could be no military recruits next year due to budget cuts