Senate approves on final reading bill on self-reliant defense posture program

THE SENATE on Monday passed on third and final reading a bill that seeks to boost the country’s defense program through investments in local defense equipment manufacturing, amid increasing tensions with China.

All 20 senators present voted in favor of Senate Bill 2455, which will task the Department of National Defense to develop a self-reliant defense posture program that will encourage manufacturers to produce weapons and defense systems in the country for local use and exports.

The measure will give the agency P1 billion in funding.

Senator and former national police chief Ronald M. Dela Rosa said the proposed law would allow the Philippines to “protect every square inch of the country’s territory.”

The bill will complement state efforts to modernize the Armed Forces of the Philippines through the development of naval shipyards, military bases and camps.

“We should not always be dependent on our allies in furthering our national interests,” Mr. Dela Rosa told the plenary. “Having our own domestic supply of defense equipment gives us peace of mind that we are no longer dependent on the availability (of equipment) from foreign sources.”

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives defense committee approved a similar measure, endorsing it for plenary debates.

“Our country, as a matter of national survival, cannot totally rely on the supplied armaments of other countries,” Iloilo Rep. and committee chairman Raul C. Tupas said in a speech.

“We need to develop our manufacturing capabilities and utilize to the fullest our natural resources to meet the country’s defense needs,” he added.

Mr. Tupas said the country’s national defense program has “lost its momentum” in recent years due to insufficient funding and incentives for the private sector, lack of strategic direction and a weakening local market due reliance on foreign assistance.

The proposed Philippine Self-Reliant Defense Posture Program would ensure that local components and indigenous materials are affordable and readily available, Mr. Tupas said.

It would also encourage private sector participation through co-production or joint venture agreements, as well as fiscal incentives.

The program should be given more strategic oversight, Mr. Tupas added.

Oriental Mindoro Rep. Arnan C. Panaligan in his sponsorship speech said a self-reliant defense program would provide employment opportunities and generate revenue from exports of locally made defense equipment.

Defense Undersecretary Salvador Melchor B. Mison, Jr. proposed that the bill include investments in disruptive technologies with long-term applications.

These include artificial intelligence, quantum-based technologies and robotics and autonomous weapons, according to the European Defence Agency.

“Legislation will indeed bolster the local defense industry and lessen our reliance on foreign sources,” Mr. Mison told the committee.

Senate President Juan Miguel F. Zubiri in August said the Philippines is one of the top importers of defense equipment in Southeast Asia, having spent $338 million (P19.15 billion) in 2021.

China claims more than 80% of the South China Sea based on a 1940s map, which a United Nations-backed arbitration court voided in 2016.

The Philippines has been unable to enforce the ruling and has since filed hundreds of protests over what it calls encroachment and harassment by China’s coast guard and its vast fishing fleet.

Chinese ships on Dec. 10 fired water cannons at three Philippine boats on a resupply mission to a military outpost at Second Thomas Shoal.

About 135 Chinese militia vessels were spotted at Whitsun Reef on Dec. 3, Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela told congressmen last week.

Both Second Thomas Shoal and Whitsun Reef are within the Philippines’ 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ). — John Victor D. Ordoñez and Beatriz Marie D. Cruz