THE security flashpoint called the West Philippine Sea (WPS) is bound to deteriorate as more and more incidents of confrontation between Filipino and Chinese vessels occur in that part of the South China Sea which is being claimed by the Philippines, China, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam.
The latest troublesome incident happened last Monday, and as reported by the Chinese state television network CCTV, the vessels of the two countries “collided” at the Sabina Shoal (Escoda Shoal) of the Spratly islands, known to the Xianbin Reef in the Nansha islands.
Chinese Coast Guard spokesperson Geng Yu alleged that “despite multiple warnings from the Chinese side, the Philippine vessel 4410 deliberately collided with China’s 21551 vessel.”
The Philippines considers Sabina Shoal as its territory and well within its exclusive economic zone, while China considers it its own from time immemorial, despite the ruling of the arbitral ruling in The Hague in 2016 that rejects its massive claim to almost the entire South China Sea.
‘But this dream of military modernization has sadly taken second fiddle to social services and medical emergencies…’
Past presidents have shared the same wish of modernizing the Armed Forces of the Philippines and thus truly providing security to the nation which is an important component of economic development.
But this dream of military modernization has sadly taken second fiddle to social services and medical emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-2022. Successive international events, most of them global and with possible solutions beyond our reach, have conspired to pressure the government to fund social services first, relegating defense spending to a non-priority.
When President Fidel Ramos took the helm of government, the soldier in him prodded him to take action on AFP modernization, and his easy answer was to sell military lands to private corporations to buy fighter planes, helicopters, artillery pieces, heavy tanks and mechanized guns, and floating assets for the Navy. But even this was not enough, as much of the money was lost to official corruption, as is the practice in many government transactions.
Now, the AFP modernization plan has been allocated P50 billion to strengthen national defense capabilities. The budget is part of the proposed P419.3-billion for the defense department in 2025.
“In the 2025 national budget, the sum of P50 billion in capital outlays has been earmarked to be used exclusively to support the funding requirements of the military’s ongoing modernization projects,” Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel said. The AFP budget is P10 billion higher than this year’s allocation for hardware and systems upgrades.
Pimentel authored House Bill No.1782 which seeks to appropriate P5 billion for the installation of new naval forward operating bases to secure the West Philippine Sea’s vast natural gas and oil deposits that have the potential to supply the country’s energy demand in the decades ahead.
Aside from the Navy’s forward operating bases, the AFP also needs at least three hospital ships to be deployed in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao as the military and the Coast Guard’s emergency safety facilities in the wake of the deteriorating confrontations in the West Philippine Sea.
It is just right for Congress under the leadership of Speaker Martin Romualdez and Senate President Francis Escudero to fully support the AFP modernization program by way of allocating more funds in the national budget.
