The Senate has approved the proposed P265.10 billion budget for the Department of National Defense (DND) and its attached agencies, including the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa sponsored and defended the DND’s budget during Thursday’s deliberations.

During the plenary session, Senators Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito and Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go sought to restore the P10 billion cut imposed by the House of Representatives on the P50 billion allocation for the Revised AFP Modernization Program for 2025.

Dela Rosa lamented that the budget reduction would affect critical AFP modernization projects, such as the establishment of cyber systems, procurement of forward support equipment, aviation and engineering tools, additional aircraft, joint tactical combat vehicles, and radar-basing support systems.

AFP Modernization

Defending the AFP’s budget, Dela Rosa noted that the modernization program’s funding constitutes only 0.17 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), one of the lowest defense allocations in the region. GDP measures the total value of all goods and services produced within a country’s borders over a specific period.

Ejercito backed Dela Rosa, emphasizing that the fund is vital to implementing the Revised AFP Modernization Law.

“We staunchly support the good sponsor of the DND’s budget, by my colleague Senator Bato Dela Rosa, in his critical mission to restore the 10-billion-peso budget cut and even augment if necessary essential for the success of the AFP Modernization Program,” Ejercito said.

Ejercito stressed the need for government investment in modernizing the military.

“This investment in our national security is an investment to our future, our sovereignty, and most importantly to our men in uniform,” Ejercito said in his manifestation.

Expressing his full support for the DND’s 2025 budget, Go urged lawmakers to further increase defense sector funding.

“Karapat-dapat lamang po na suportahan natin sila at kung pwede lamang po ay dagdagan pa natin ang budget nila para matulungan pa sila (It is only right that we support them, and if possible, we should increase their budget to help them),” Go said.

Drone Warfare Capabilities

Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros sought assurance that the DND’s modernization program would not lag behind other countries, especially in drone warfare capabilities.

“We currently live in a very volatile period of history with various conflicts around the globe boiling hot and some simmering just under the surface,” she stressed.

While the country prefers peace, Hontiveros stressed the importance of learning from global conflicts, citing the role of drones, including naval drones and anti-drone warfare, guided munitions, and air defense systems.

In response, Dela Rosa highlighted that the AFP is now in the third phase of its modernization program, called “Horizon 3,” under the Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept (CADC), which focuses on current and future threats, including drone deployment.

Hontiveros welcomed these developments in the defense sector.

“Modernization, including Horizon 3, proves that we have a dynamic, not static, program and the process of modernization is based on a new concept such as the CADC,” she said.

“It's good that it's anchored in the concept of defense as an archipelago and I appreciate that you factor in current and future threats,” she added.