The Philippine government must increase its defense spending by at least 2 percent of the country's domestic product (GDP) growth to increase the readiness of its armed forces and offset its neighbors in the region. Despite the recent acquisition of the Philippine Armed Forces, its ability to defend the country's territory is still limited, Brig. General Roy Galido from the AFP System Engineering Office told MPs during a briefing at the House of Representatives earlier this week.
"There is a need to estimate our defense spending on our country's GDP at 2 percent per year," he said.
DND is one of the government agencies with the largest budget allocations, but that does not mean it applies to the purchase of new weapons.
For 2020, DND has a proposed budget of P189 billion for its regular funds. The money needed for procurement for the military modernization program is not fully included in the budget proposal.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute Military Expenditure Database, the Philippines spends 1.1 percent of its GDP on its armed forces.
The regional average is 1.9 percent.
Galido said if defense spending would be based on the country's GDP for at least 2 percent, the defense budget would be around P320 billion, which is still lower than the budget for the Ministry of Education.
The constitution requires that education must be a top priority in the budget. DepEd has the largest share of the proposed P4.1 trillion national budget for 2020 of P673 billion.
"This amount is a good benchmark for defense spending and of course the sustainability of the modernization program to have a credible defense posture among neighboring countries," Galido said.
The Philippine military remains one of the most incomplete in Asia, even if it continues to modernize its forces, navy and air force.
"Apart from the resources allocated for defense programs by our government, our neighboring countries in ASEAN are spending more relative to their GDP, thus making our modernization program unmatched," Galido said.
The status of Philippine military modernization can be attributed to financial constraints and the ins and outs of procuring defense equipment, he said.
The official also noted that the modernization program also focused primarily on material development, ignoring other aspects of modernization - human resources, doctrine and organization, development of support systems / bases.
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