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Philippines races to upgrade military amid China threat – but is it ‘too little too late’?
- The Philippine military’s upgrading has faced delays and underfunding, with Manila being caught off guard by China’s rising maritime threats
- To plug funding gaps, Manila needs to focus on trimming expenses including revamping the military’s controversial pension system
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Addressing new army officers in July, President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr struck an optimistic note over the Philippine military’s prospects once a multibillion-dollar upgrade gains momentum, as sea disputes with China add urgency to the quest for new jets, frigates and submarines.
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“Hopefully, we’ll catch up in a year, maybe two, we will already be back to where we were supposed to be at the time before the pandemic,” Marcos Jnr said in the July speech.
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Philippines races to upgrade its degrading military in the face of maritime disputes
Philippines races to upgrade its degrading military in the face of maritime disputes
But his words were grounded by the reality of substantial delays – partly due to the Covid-19 pandemic – and underfunding to modernise the Philippine military, which had until relatively recently been focusing mainly on tackling domestic threats.
The years of delays, say officials and experts, have left the Philippine Armed Forces’ plans well behind schedule as it races to replace hardware that is – in some cases – decades old.
The Philippines has pivoted to external defence as China steps up its claims over contested areas of the South China Sea, with both countries being embroiled in several incidents in the disputed waterway in recent months.
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