It’s a tantalizing prospect: that the Philippines could soon acquire its first-ever submarine as part of modernizing its armed forces.
If we do have our own submarine, we join the elite group of countries in Southeast Asia who already have this type of naval vessel, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Singapore.
The only question is: Can we afford it?
Perhaps the answer to that is: Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
And that seems to be what President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was thinking when he revealed last week that, yes, his administration wants to purchase a submarine so we can catch up with our neighbors in the region.
If four of our ASEAN partners have been able to prioritize the acquisition of submarines for their own defense, why can’t we?
In the first place, we’re an archipelagic country with three main islands and some 7,000 plus small ones. We cannot forever remain under the shadow of the US naval might in this part of the world and always rely on them for our own security.
And then there’s the urgent need to reinforce our naval capability to protect our national sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as our Exclusive Economic (EEZ) amid China’s aggressive actions of late in the South China Sea.
What’s important at this point is that the Marcos Jr. administration wants the country to achieve a credible defense posture, that is, to equip our armed forces with ample capability to defend the country on land, sea and air.
Thus far, the government cannot afford to buy outright a submarine as we’re focused on economic construction in the post-COVID-19 period.
For now, we can only bolster the country’s anti-submarine capabilities.
It is true, as pointed out by the President, that getting our own submarine and operating it requires huge resources running into billions of pesos not only for the acquisition of the vessel itself, but also the training of officers and personnel.
But we have begun to get the ball rolling, so to speak, with preliminary discussions with several countries, such as France, and exploring possibilities for the manufacture of submarines for the Philippines.
In fact, French Ambassador to the Philippines Michèle Boccoz has confirmed that Paris is in an “ongoing discussion” with the Marcos administration since last year regarding the purchase of our first submarine.
Our Navy has also started sending personnel to France for training before procuring the submarines.
The Philippines is an archipelago with one of the world’s longest coastlines.
At the same time, we have territorial disputes with some of our neighbors.
We should beef up our naval defenses if we want to adequately protect our shores in the years ahead.