Philippines seeks naval self-reliance as South China Sea threats grow: ‘we wasted 6 years’

Initially announced in 2012, the Philippine Navy’s modernisation plan aimed to acquire a robust fleet, including six anti-air warfare frigates and three attack submarines. Yet, as of this year, it only operates two modern frigates – the BRP José Rizal and BRP Antonio Luna – alongside a handful of other vessels, leaving it vulnerable in a region fraught with tension.

“Now, we have to catch up. It’s high time to mobilise our industries and people.”

With clashes between Philippine and Chinese vessels becoming more frequent in the South China Sea, rising tensions have sharpened Manila’s focus on defence.

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“It is better for the economy to build our own ships,” Philippine Navy spokesman Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad told local media in May, emphasising that maintaining vessels bought from abroad “is more expensive than their cost”.

Custodio agrees. “We should invest,” he said. “When you are up against a major power like China, it’s not right to approach with half-hearted measures … China believes that our ships are limited.”

In addition to its two frigates, the Philippines has two amphibious transport ships, three corvettes, six offshore patrol vessels and nine fast-attack craft.

“The important thing is we don’t run out of assets,” said Custodio, who is also a fellow at the Consortium of Indo-Pacific Researchers think tank.

The situation in the South China Sea, he said, “is just going to get worse”.

The Philippines already has a robust civilian shipbuilding industry, making the development of even a limited naval sector a logical next step, said Greg Poling, director of the Southeast Asia programme at the Centre for Strategic and International