MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Navy needs two or three submarines in its fleet to fully do its mandate of protecting the nation’s maritime domain, its spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea (WPS) said on Thursday.
“We do not only [need] one submarine, we need two or three,” Navy spokesperson for WPS Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad told reporters in a phone interview.
Trinidad said that the Navy submitted its wish list for Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Horizon 3 —which included submarines — but he noted that they have no information if their request was approved.
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“The Horizon 3 was approved, we gave our list [but] we don’t know which of [our requests] was approved,” Trinidad also said, partly in Filipino.
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. already approved adjustments to the AFP modernization’s Horizon 3, according to Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr.
Marcos said his administration is planning to acquire the Philippines’ first-ever submarine, but he noted that the government is prioritizing the development of the Navy’s anti-submarine capabilities.
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The Philippines is an archipelago with one of the world’s longest coastlines and territorial disputes with its neighbors. But it has been left behind in the submarine race with its neighbors in Southeast Asia.
Currently, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Singapore already have submarines.