MANILA, Philippines — The country's defense spending has been on a steady rise since the 1990s, with a 25-percent leap eyed next year.
The proposed P25-billion defense budget in 2016 is part of a five-year military modernization program gearing to project a modern military with minimum credible defense and to make the Philippines a worthy member of security alliances.
While President Benigno Aquino III's administration has committed itself to a slew of upgrade projects for the military, several projects worth over P60 billion faced possible delays for lack of the commander-in-chief's signature, the STAR reported last month. These are:
Based on a report by The STAR / Alexis Romero; Infographic by Philstar.com / Jonathan Asuncion
Last week, the Philippine Navy christened two brand new weaponized AugustaWestlend AW109 helicopters for deployment on board its Pilar-class frigates.
Data recently obtained by The STAR showed that 55 military upgrade projects worth P11.71 billion have been completed under the Aquino administration.
VIEW INFOGRAPHICS: Completed Navy, Army, Air Force upgrade projects