Philippines Increases Defence Budget to $4.38 Billion Amid South China Sea Tensions
The Philippines is allocating 256.1 billion pesos ($4.38 billion) for defence spending in 2025, the budget ministry announced on Monday. This represents a 6.4% increase from this year’s budget as the country seeks to modernise and bolster its external defences.
The proposed increase in defence spending comes amid growing tensions with Beijing over territorial disputes in the South China Sea, which China mostly claims as its own.
The defence budget accounts for 4.0% of the government’s proposed 6.35 trillion pesos spending plan for 2025, which the budget ministry submitted to Congress on Monday for approval.
Of the total defence budget, 204.4 billion pesos will be allocated to land, air, and naval forces defence programmes, while 50 billion pesos will help fund the armed forces’ revised modernisation plan. This plan reflects a strategic shift from internal to external defence.
The planned defence spending is dedicated to “uphold our sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman told lawmakers.
The Philippines has stated it will continue asserting its rights in the South China Sea, despite reaching a “provisional arrangement” with China regarding its resupply missions to the contested Second Thomas Shoal.
A 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague found that Beijing’s expansive claims had no basis under international law. The case was brought to the court by the Philippines, and China rejects the ruling.
Under the proposed 2025 budget, the Philippine Coast Guard, which has been conducting patrols and escorting resupply missions in the South China Sea, will see a 6.0% increase in its budget to 31.4 billion pesos.
Next year’s spending plan, equal to 22% of the country’s gross domestic product, is 10.1% higher than the current budget. This supports Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos’ agenda to grow the economy by up to 8% and reduce poverty.
As mandated by law, the education sector will receive the largest share of the budget with an allocation of 977.6 billion pesos. The rest of the budget will be distributed among various agencies, including public works (900 billion pesos), health (298 billion pesos), and agriculture (211 billion pesos).
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