Legarda urges bigger spending for defense

Senator Loren Legarda has reiterated the Senate’s full commitment to significantly increase defense spending for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), as she raised serious concerns over the slow implementation of the military’s modernization program due to “funding bottlenecks and obsolete equipment.”

In a recent Senate finance committee hearing on the proposed 2026 budget of the Department of National Defense (DND) and attached agencies on Tuesday, Legarda highlighted the need to raise defense funding to at least two percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 2028, up from the current 1.3 percent, in line with commitments made by the Senate Committee on National Defense.

“Before 2028, which is really one or two years away from now, the chair has committed that he, along with all of us, will support the funding of at least two percent of GDP for the AFP and the DND, just to make it very clear,” Legarda said.

The senator then turned to the implementation status of the Revised AFP Modernization Program, which was divided into three phases or “Horizons.”

Horizon 1 (2013–2017) and Horizon 2 (2018–2022) were officially completed, but numerous projects under both phases remain unfinished.

Horizon 3, or the final phase of the AFP Modernization Program, will run from 2023 until 2028 and consists of equipment geared for external defense.

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said only 39 out of 53 projects under Horizon 1 have been completed, with 14 still pending despite the phase ending eight years ago.

“The bottlenecks were funding, basically. Now, the problem is funding plus the obsolescence of the past items,” Teodoro told Legarda.

The Defense chief is pushing for the scrapping of the remaining items in Horizon 1.

Teodoro admitted that approximately P96.71 billion worth of projects from Horizon 1 remain unfunded, citing a lack of appropriations and the obsolescence of the originally planned equipment.

Teodoro and Legarda agreed that the slow implementation of the AFP modernization program under Horizon 1 was “due to funding gaps.”

Teodoro said the DND plans to scrap the remaining projects under Horizon 1 due to outdated specifications, saying some items have become irrelevant in today’s evolving security and technological landscape.

Legarda acknowledged this need for a strategic reassessment, emphasizing that modernization should not merely focus on hardware acquisition but also on updated military doctrines and new technologies like artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.

“At the time [of Horizon 1], the digital world was not yet this way. AI was not yet here. Blockchain was not yet known,” she noted.

A significant part of the discussion revolved around Republic Act 10349, which serves as the legal framework for the AFP modernization.

Legarda and Teodoro both floated the idea of repealing or amending the law to allow a more holistic and flexible approach to defense procurement, moving away from the rigid Horizon structure that currently hampers execution.

“Maybe we can just simply repeal it with transitory provisions for the payment of past obligations,” she suggested, asking the DND to provide legal recommendations for such a move.

Teodoro confirmed that in 2024, P40 billion was allocated for the AFP modernization, with 98.5 percent of the funds released and fully obligated. However, only 75 percent of the modernization projects were implemented, raising questions about budget utilization and contract structuring.

It was also revealed that a large portion of the budget went to multi-year contractual obligations from previous Horizons — leaving little room for new acquisitions.

Of the 2024 funds, P39.3 billion was used to pay for existing contracts, mostly from Horizon 2.