MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines can only afford a "frugal" military upgrade, defense officials said Monday, even though maritime tensions with China are growing.
Despite a proposed 25 percent rise in next year's defense budget, the government must still divide resources between external defense and internal threats like insurgencies and natural disasters, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and other security officials added.
Since President Benigno Aquino took office in mid-2010, the Philippines has acquired two former US Coast Guard cutters, three landing craft from Australia and South Korea and seven surplus UH-1H helicopters.
"The goal of updating and modernizing our armed forces is a long and painstaking process," Gazmin told a ceremony for the commissioning of 10 more newly acquired air force helicopters.
"That means we have to be frugal and acquire reliable platforms at very reasonable costs ... as allowed by our meager financial resources."
The modest upgrade has been prompted partly by China's moves to stake its claim to most of the South China Sea.
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