PH Will Get Slice of $55 Million Funding from US for Maritime Defense

Manila’s quest to safeguard its waters and to enforce its UN-backed claim on the resource-rich South China Sea has taken a favorable turn as the US State Department has pledged an undisclosed amount for the country from its $55 million funding for maritime defenses and awareness programs in the Indo-Pacific.

Tensions between Manila and Beijing don’t seem to be letting up especially and the Southeast Asian nation is set to welcome a new Chinese envoy after outgoing Ambassador Huang Xilian is set to complete his term.

Based on a fact sheet published on its Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, the US State Department is allocating $55 million or about P3.2 billion for new maritime law enforcement funding in the Indo-Pacific. However, it didn't specify exactly how much the Philippines is getting to bolster its maritime capacity.

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“This funding will enable these partners to counter illicit maritime activities, exercise their sovereign rights, and interdict illicit fishing and maritime trafficking operations,” the State Department said. “These include strengthening maritime domain awareness (MDA) capabilities, for countries in the region and for the United States; building regional maritime law enforcement capacity; enhancing national defense capabilities for Indo-Pacific partners; (and) conducting maritime operations, including military exercises…”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said it is crucial for Washington to highlight the “collective efforts to advance a free and open South China Sea, through which trillions of dollars in global trade flow annually.”

He also said China had “expansive and unlawful maritime claims,” in the waterway.

China and the Philippines have been butting heads in disputed areas on the shores of contested features of the South China Sea, which Manila’s neighbor claims nearly in its entirety.

International actors such as the United Nations and its Permanent Court of Arbitration have voided China’s so-called historical claim based on a 1940s map covering a seemingly arbitrary “10-dash-line.” The Philippines has failed to enforce the ruling due an imposing Chinese fishing and coast guard fleet.

Washington's new funding for maritime defenses and domain awareness was announced during the 80th UN General Assembly in New York on Sept. 24.

Newly appointed Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro has urged the international community to uphold international law and a rules-based order involving cooperation at sea over illicit activities.

Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. said Manila "appreciates" Ambassador Huang's diplomatic work during the envoy’s farewell call in Malacañang. Still, he lamented a lack of progress on the “difficulties that we have in the South China Sea, West Philippine Sea.”

“Considering how difficult the situation was, we have managed to keep things at least away from too many problems,” the President said.

Huang has been China’s top diplomat to the Philippines since 2019, which also saw him often summoned by the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs over Beijing’s growing assertiveness and constant aggression in the waterway.

Marcos has been pushing for Philippine allies and regional neighbors to craft and enforce a binding code of conduct on actions in the South China Sea. Manila is set to assume chairmanship in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) next year.

Washington and its focus on regional peace

Maritime and Defense ties between the US and the Philippines have flourished under the Marcos administration, with the US Department of State giving the go signal for the potential sale of F-16 fighter jets and ammunition worth $5.5 billion to the Philippines.

The US is a crucial security partner of the Philippines, with both countries needing to abide by the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty that requires both nations to protect each other in case an external force attacks either one of them.

According to the US State Department, the US has conducted 29 military exercises in the Indo-Pacific region with participation from the Philippines, South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Pakistan, India, Australia, New Zealand, France, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Since 2017, the global superpower has provided over $1.5 billion in maritime security assistance to its partners in the Indo-Pacific. Marcos' ascent to office has led to the firmer Philippine defensive stance against China’s harassment of Philippine Coast Guard and other civilian vessels in the waterway, with his administrations filing hundreds of diplomatic protests against its neighbor.

“By leveraging the strong relationships we have in the region, we are able to effectively and efficiently identify the most pressing threats to our interests, collaborate with partners to determine how best to mitigate these threats, and coordinate our response,” according to the US Department of State.

Rubio and Trump Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth had doubled down on Washington’s ironclad defense commitment to the Philippines to deter China’s “dangerous actions in the South China Sea.”

The US and the Philippines have also been in close cooperation with Japan in a trilateral pact to keep a free and open Indo-Pacific region.

Washington also kept its advanced multipurpose Typhon missile system that had been left in the country during last year’s joint war games or Balikatan (shoulder-to-shoulder) drills.

Manila is on its third phase of its military modernization plan called “Horizons” and has earmarked $35 billion to build up its military capacity to keep China at bay.

All three nations have engaged in joint trilateral maritime exercises such as a recent one in Kagoshima, Japan, aimed at boosting interoperability between coast guards.

Aside from the US, the Philippines is also bound by military agreements with Japan and Australia as it tries to also pursue more pacts with its allies to deter China’s aggressiveness and its expansive claim.

The Philippines Department of Defense has said that the country is reliant on these pacts and deals as the agency has admitted that the country still has one of the region's weakest militaries.

Marcos is also keen on repositioning the Philippines as a global shipbuilding powerhouse with the historic Subic Bay shipyard, which is expected to be a major building ground for American warships and overall production in the span of the next three decades.

“Maritime security is vital to advancing U.S. interests in the Indo-Pacific,” according to the US State Department. “Upholding the international law of the sea, including freedoms of navigation and overflight and other lawful uses of the sea, and ensuring unimpeded lawful commerce are vital for global peace and prosperity.”