Philippines starts war games amid South China Sea tensions

By Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio, Reporter

THE PHILIPPINES on Tuesday kicked off its annual military drills to test its armed forces’ ability to repel invasions as if being “already at war,” its top general said amid repeated incursions within its exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea.

About 2,000 Filipino troops will take part in the nine-day high-intensity military exercise along the country’s western seaboard, near disputed maritime features that have been at the core of the Southeast Asian nation’s security anxieties, according to an armed forces handout.

Called Exercise Dagitpa — a blend of the Filipino words for sea, air and land — military units will hold a mix of beach defense, naval fire support and missile defense drills to test their joint force capabilities against invasion threats as China remains increasingly coercive in the contested waterway.

“As I have always said, we are already at war… I want us to have that mindset,” Philippine military chief General Romeo S. Brawner, Jr. said during his opening remarks.

“We are not at war with bullets and bombs, but with disinformation, with coercion, and with encroachment into our territories, into our exclusive economic zone.”

The drills are not directed at any specific country, but are designed to sharpen the armed forces’ ability to hold off an invading force for up to a month, a period during which Manila expects the US and other allies to step in.

“We must defend our country on our own first,” he told reporters in Filipino after the exercise’s opening ceremonies at the Philippine military headquarters in Manila. “We have to rely on ourselves first, that’s why our exercises continue without letup.”

The Southeast Asian nation has stepped up military activities both independently and with allies as tensions with China continue to escalate in the South China Sea, a resource-rich waterway that has been the site of repeated confrontations between Philippine and Chinese forces.

“This exercise is entirely us alone so we can assess where we stand, and the limits of our defense,” Mr. Brawner said.

He said the Philippines must be “prepared for any eventuality” to ensure its forces’ combat readiness, adding that support from allies would follow only after hostilities erupt. “If conflict breaks out, we will naturally be the first to engage in combat.”

“But we are expecting also reinforcements or help from our allies.”

Defense ties with other countries have flourished under President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., whose administration has adopted a more assertive posture in the contested waters. Manila has sealed military agreements with Japan and New Zealand since he took office and is pursuing similar pacts with France and the UK.

Mr. Brawner, however, said the armed forces would not use allied equipment during the Dagitpa drills, opting instead to rely solely on Philippine military assets. “We need to understand both our capabilities and our gaps.”

“Considering the threats we are facing, we are comparing our capabilities with those of our neighboring countries,” he said, recognizing that Philippine forces lack equipment and advanced weaponry when compared to others in the region. “We have the ability to defend our country, but what I’m saying is it’s still not enough.”

“If we consider the entire archipelago, our current equipment is not enough to cover it entirely,” he added.

The Philippines has launched a sweeping P2-trillion military modernization program, aimed at bolstering its defense capabilities over the next decade, including the acquisition of warships, jets and missile systems, as it pushes back against Beijing’s military might in the South China Sea.

China has maintained sweeping control over the waters bordering several Southeast Asian nations despite a 2016 ruling by a United Nations-backed court that voided its overreaching claim.

Manila has described China’s actions in the waterway as coercive and escalatory, while Beijing insists its operations are meant to defend its sovereignty.

Also on Tuesday, Defense Secretary Gilberto C. Teodoro, Jr. underscored the need to develop cheap but effective weapons, citing the growing importance of “low-cost, asymmetrically and algorithmically designed technologies” to strengthen deterrence.

Mr. Teodoro also “underscored the importance of highly mobile production systems to minimize disruptions in defense materiel manufacturing,” Manila’s Defense department said in a separate statement.

A senior defense official last week said the Philippines is looking at widely adopting unmanned systems and drones more broadly in its armed forces, describing them as much-needed force multipliers for effective deterrence.

Philippine troops had already trained with unmanned weapon systems, including the US anti-ship Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) and sea drones, during a month-long joint exercise with US forces that began in April.

Remotely piloted drones have become a backbone in modern warfare due to their long-range reach and lower cost compared with other advanced weaponry, like missiles and fighter jets, and they have since seen heavy combat use since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.