When President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. approved in December 2023 the military’s ambitious P1.9-trillion wish list to modernize its equipment and weapons systems, the defense department wondered how the government could finance the spending plan spread over 10 years.
It knew Congress usually approved only a P50 billion annual budget for the Armed Forces’ modernization program. This is on top of the defense and military annual budget of nearly P250 billion.
For 2025, the defense and military budget was even reduced. About P289 billion was appropriated in 2024, and P5 billion was slashed from the modernization fund.
It clearly showed the government’s priorities, as funds for cash assistance programs, such as AKAP and AICS, ballooned to over P50 billion in an election year.
Thus, the defense department delayed signing big-ticket contracts, including the acquisition of a squadron of multi-role fighters.
It simply has no money to finance the United States’ 2021 offer to sell 12 F-16s, including spare parts and armaments, at $2.4 billion.
Under its 15-year, three-phased modernization program, approved by Congress in 2012, the military has only allocated $1.2 billion for a squadron of multi-role fighters.
This year, Washington sweetened the offer – 20 brand-new F-16s block C/Ds, including armaments, spares, and a maintenance deal worth $5.58 billion.
Based on the revised third horizon plan in 2023, the Philippines needs 48 aircraft, or four squadrons of multi-role fighters.
Are the Americans crazy? That price tag for 20 aircraft is already worth more than the entire Philippine defense budget for one year.
About 60% of the annual defense budget goes to pay and allowances of the 180,000 members of the Armed Forces and civilian personnel of the department.
However, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro and the Philippine ambassador to Washington, Jose Manuel Romualdez, have creative minds on how to finance long-term loans from the United States to acquire the state-of-the-art multi-role fighters.
Romualdez considered issuing defense bonds to finance the F-16s, while Teodoro was discussing a long-term financing deal with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the Bankers Association of the Philippines.
Nothing has come out yet from these innovative schemes.
Meanwhile, the Philippines is the only country in Southeast Asia without a multi-role fighter to defend its airspace.
As a stop-gap measure, it recently signed a $700-million deal with South Korea to acquire a squadron of upgraded FA-50 light fighters.
Does the Philippines urgently need F-16s?
At this point, acquiring the F-16s should be the last thing defense and military leaders should think about for several reasons.
First, the Philippine Air Force may not be ready to operate the sophisticated aircraft because it lacks qualified pilots and technicians to maintain the billion-dollar aircraft.
The PAF’s fighter pilots lack the number of training hours to operate the F-16s.
The pilots trained on old AS-211 or the FA-50s, but only five South Korean light fighters have been flying due to a lack of spare parts.
Ground crew are not familiar with the F-16s and need more training to properly maintain and sustain the aircraft.
Third, the local military does not have enough airfields where the F-16s can take off and land because of the aircraft’s design of low lay-out of air intakes that can suck dust and small stones that could destroy the engine.
Perhaps, only the former US Air Force base in Clark and Basa Air Base in Pampanga, which was upgraded with US help, can handle the F-16s landing and taking off.
Of course, they can also use civilian airports, like the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and in Mactan, Cebu, where the airbase with hangars is adjacent.
Teodoro said that more important platforms are needed that could prepare the Philippines to operate F-16s.
For instance, he said the Air Force needs air refueling capability and a command and control aircraft.
Air tankers and an Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEWC) aircraft would cost the military at least P110 billion, cheaper than the F-16s.
Of course, a squadron of trainers, like the Czech L-39 Albatros and the South Korean FA-50s, is also needed to train and prepare pilots for the F-16s, or any multi-role fighters.
The Philippines should prepare first before acquiring the F-16s. It needs training, infrastructure, logistics, and a working supply chain.
More importantly, the cost of the aircraft.
The Philippines would be heavily burdened by paying back loans to acquire $5.6 billion worth of F-16s, making Manila more dependent on Washington.
The $5.6-billion price tag may still rise due to spare parts, training, and the price of US services compared with other Western suppliers, like Sweden and France.
Geopolitically, the F-16s could further fuel tensions with China as the Philippines upgrades its equipment.
There are cheaper alternatives than the US F-16s; the French offered Rafael and the Swedes the JAS39 Gripen.
But, better still, improve the land-based air defense systems, focusing on anti-drone and anti-missile systems, surveillance, and electronic jammers.
The air superiority and air interdiction can come much later than other capabilities envisioned by the Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept.
Why buy a Ferrari when the Philippines can do with a Toyota?
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