DND chief: PHL still lacks ‘credible’ defense posture

From the Business Mirror (Oct 12, 2020): DND chief: PHL still lacks ‘credible’ defense posture (By Rene Acosta)

Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana has admitted that the military is yet to attain the so-called minimum defense posture requirement for the country, even as he supported the call of Sen. Imee Marcos for the creation of maritime militias similar to the paramilitary units deployed by China to the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

The defense chief and top military officials appeared before the Senate Committee on Finance on Monday to defend the proposed 2021 budget of the Department of National Defense and its attached agencies.

“We are not yet at 25 percent,” said the defense chief when Marcos asked at what stage the military is already positioned in its defense posture in relation to its ongoing capability upgrade program.

“You are scary,” Marcos said in reply to Lorenzana’s answer.

“That’s true Mr. Chairman,” the defense secretary said, this time addressing his answer to Sen. Panfilo Lacson, the committee vice chairman.

Lorenzana explained that the country can say that it already has a minimum defense stance when it can protect its interests and “ward off” intruders in its territory, especially in the WPS where Beijing has maintained its presence through its fleets of swarming maritime militias.

“We really do not have assets to face armed intruders into our territory,” he lamented, adding that the country must need to develop its maritime, air and land defense systems, as well as a joint command and control system in order to put up a credible posture.

“Even if we have ships, they do not have armaments,” the defense chief said.

Lorenzana’s statement solicited a reaction from Lacson, who noted that since the military is already in its second phase of its modernization program, the Armed Forces of the Philippines should have at least increased its capability.

The military is implementing its modernization under three phases dubbed as Horizons 1, 2 and 3, with the second phase covering 2018 up to 2022.

The absence of a credible posture also forces Lorenzana to candidly admit that the military cannot defend the country’s territory, especially with its current inventory of assets.

“Until we get the armaments for the two frigates, we do not have the posture to defend our territory,” he said referring to the two brand-new South Korean frigates, one of which has already been delivered.

The defense chief said the military also plans to acquire at least five corvettes, with South Korea still as the possible source and six offshore patrol vessels.

With Lorenzana’s admission of the “incapable” state of the military to defend the country’s stakes, especially in the WPS, Marcos proposed that the defense department form a Chinese-like maritime militia, which the defense chief admitted, was being used by the “other side” in the territory that it claim.

Lorenzana said that he would order the Navy to study the “good proposal.”

Still, Lorenzana said, “We have effort to develop similar assets but we do not have assets [boats] to operate in our territory.”

Marcos however said: “Whether we have boats or not, the least we can do is to train and develop our fishermen.”

https://businessmirror.com.ph/2020/10/12/dnd-chief-phl-still-lacks-credible-defense-posture/