DEFENSE Secretary Gilbert Teodoro on Tuesday warned that the Philippines risks losing both its maritime and land territories if it fails to actively assert and protect its sovereign rights, as he pushed for stronger funding for the Department of National Defense (DND) during the Senate hearing on its proposed 2026 budget. Speaking before the Senate finance committee, Teodoro likened the situation in the West Philippine Sea and Benham Rise to neglected real estate properties that end up being occupied by others due to inaction. “It’s the same as with our real estate assets — we sit back and relax and say, ‘that’s ours,’ but we don’t do anything. So what happens? Others occupy those lands because we didn’t act,” Teodoro said. “It’s the same with the sea — someone will always move first. There are already attempts to say certain areas are not covered by Unclos, and they have their own interpretations. So if we don’t move first, others will beat us to it.”
Teodoro urged lawmakers to support the DND’s strategic basing program, which aims to establish takeoff points for a 360-degree coverage of the country’s exclusive economic zone. “Admittedly, we cannot cover the whole area at this time,” he said. “The focus is not merely on the West Philippine Sea, but everywhere where we have jurisdiction.” He expressed concern that other countries could already be encroaching on the 2.1 million square kilometers of the Philippines’ blue economy zone and the 130,000 square kilometers around Benham Rise. “For all we know, someone has already built something on Benham Rise — maybe it’s already occupied, explored, or exploited,” Teodoro said. The Defense chief also underscored the need to expand the Philippine Army’s presence, particularly in Palawan, which he described as strategically vital but inadequately defended. “We need at least one more division in Palawan,” he said. “There’s no army division there — only special forces.”
Teodoro explained that while the Marines, Navy, Air Force, and police have a presence in the province, these are not sufficient for territorial defense. “We do not have the personnel to deploy even in Palawan,” he admitted. “It takes time to build up the structure, fill it up, train, and security vet the trainees.” Currently, the Army has only one mechanized division and 11 light infantry divisions, none of which are fully motorized. “We lack infantry fighting vehicles, making our forces fixed and predictable. A fixed structure becomes a sitting duck,” he said.
He emphasized that the success of a small country’s armed forces lies in “mobility, unpredictability, and flexibility.” Teodoro also compared the Philippines’ limited ground forces to Indonesia’s, which has over 500 infantry battalions and is adding 100 more. “Indonesia is a much larger country and isn’t even affected by the South China Sea dispute, yet look at the size of their ground forces,” he noted. He said the DND will prioritize filling up under-strength battalions and addressing equipment shortages, citing the increasing need for manpower to respond not only to security threats but also to natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, and typhoons.
“Our security challenges are multidimensional,” Teodoro said. “That’s why we need to build our capabilities now — because if we don’t move first, someone else will.” Also on Tuesday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the Philippines’ sovereignty over its archipelago and other territories, including Bajo de Masinloc and the high-tide features of the Kalayaan Island Group, “is incontrovertible.” Philippine sovereignty is “firmly founded on international law, legal principles, effective control, and recognition through international treaties and agreements,” the DFA said.