Is the Philippine armed forces ‘massively underfunded’?
Por Raissa Robles — South China Morning Post – News feed
Advertisement The Philippines This Week in Asia Politics Is the Philippine military ‘massively underfunded’?
Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jnr has warned there could be no military recruits next year due to budget cuts
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Raissa Robles Published: 10:00am, 10 Sep 2026 Updated: 10:22am, 10 Sep 2026 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.”
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