PH not spending enough for external defense
A composite image of the military’s external defense. PHOTOS FROM INQUIRER FILES
MANILA, Philippines — While the Philippines confronts an intensifying external challenge, especially with China’s unrelenting aggression in the West Philippine Sea, the country is still below the suggested military spending threshold.
As explained by Dr. Rogelio Alicor Panao, INQUIRER Metrics data scientist and associate professor at the University of the Philippines, there is no universally accepted “ideal” level of military spending.
However, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, had set two percent of gross domestic product (GDP) as a prudent benchmark for maintaining credible defense capability.
Panao said “most Asian states now meet or approach this threshold [but] the Philippines in recent years appears to be below it,” pointing out data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s Military Expenditure Database.
From 1987 to 2024, he said, the Philippines spent an average of only 1.5 percent of GDP—extremely modest for an archipelago with well known geostrategic vulnerabilities.
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Singapore and South Korea devote over three percent of GDP to military spending, while China sustains close to two percent to reinforce its regional power. Even mid-tier states like Thailand and Malaysia hover between 1.5 and two percent.
Panao explained that although the Philippines has embarked on modernization efforts in recent years, much of its defense spending continues to support internal security and counterinsurgency rather than external defense.
“This inward focus reflects long-standing institutional priorities and fiscal trade-offs that favor domestic stability over maritime deterrence,” he stressed in an analysis.
However, for an archipelago with vast borders and disputed seas, “this imbalance has strategic consequences,” saying that “as regional militaries expand and tensions rise, the Philippines faces a pressing question: can alliances and diplomacy offset its continued underinvestment in defense?”
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) had stated that with local threats now controlled, the military can now handle external security challenges better, making a bold shift toward external defense operations.
The shift is in line with the AFP’s Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept, which is seen to allow the military to protect the Philippines and its sovereignty, especially over its exclusive economic zone.
For next year, the Department of Budget and Management has proposed P430.9 billion for the defense sector, with P299.3 billion earmarked for the Department of National Defense and its attached agencies.
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As President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said in his 2026 Budget Message, this is for “our continued commitment to safeguarding our sovereignty, protecting our people, and supporting the men and women in uniform who uphold peace and order across the country.”/tsb
