DEFENSE Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr wants the personnel strength of the Armed Forces increased to around 220,000 to 225,000 to address various threats that the country is facing.
The AFP’s current personnel strength is around 160,000.
“Less than half,” said Teodoro said in an interview with the ABS-CBN News Channel yesterday.
He said the “ideal” strength for the AFP is 360,000, with its population of around 120 million, its 7,600 islands, and 2 million square kilometers of maritime area.
The ideal may not be reached because of budgetary constraints, he said.
“We lack soldiers … Maybe we need to have a 10-year program for the gradual increase. If we reach 220,000 or even 250,000, that’s okay with me,” Teodoro said.
The Department of National Defense is seeking a P295.2 billion budget for next year, an 8.6 percent increase from its budget of P271.9 billion.
Teodoro said the military’s ongoing modernization program should not equate to a reduction of personnel strength.
“That (reduction) is not consistent with the current trends. Rationalization should mean the ideal force size to meet a threat, especially potential threats,” he said.
He said the country is facing three kinds of threats — internal, external, and the threat of disasters.
The defense and military establishments are embarking on a modernization program in the middle of continuing Chinese aggression in the West Philippine Sea in the South China.
The modernization program calls for the acquisition of modern warships and aircraft, which the military direly needs to protect the country’s interests in the West Philippine Sea.
Meanwhile, Teodoro said he was not certain if China is still engaged in land reclamation activities amid its plan to put up a nature reserve at Scarborough Shoal, also known as Bajo de Masinloc and Panatag Shoal.
China gained control of the shoal, some 124 nautical miles from mainland Zambales, in 2012 after a standoff with Philippine government vessels.
Asked if the defense department is certain that China is not building a new artificial island, Teodoro said, “We are not all. we are not assured. That is why it is a cause for extreme court to put it politely.”
“And I believe that we should build on the gains of the Arbitral Award and pursue whatever we can legally and legitimately so that,” said Teodoro.
The 2016 Arbitral Award invalidated China’s excessive claim in the South China Sea and affirmed the right of the Philippines to its 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone.
