The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) underscored on Saturday the need to build a credible defense posture for the Philippine military amid the territorial and maritime issues in the West Philippine Sea.

In a news forum in Quezon City, AFP Spokesman Col. Medel Aguilar said that there were initiatives in the AFP’s acquisition of several capabilities from different countries, emphasizing that it already carried out Horizons 1 and 2 under the AFP modernization program. It is now implementing Horizon 3.

“The acquisition of maritime assets especially that one that will be used by the Philippine Navy, being an archipelagic country, we are talking here of maritime zone law, we are talking of archipelagic [maritime] law,” Aguilar said.

“These are very important assets that we have to acquire. First, we have to increase our capability to conduct maritime domain awareness. We have to see what is happening in our environment, that is why we are coming up with the radar systems and other capabilities that will make sure that we have a 360-degree capability to know what is happening.”

Aside from that, the acquisition of naval assets such as submarines must be a top priority for the Philippine military.

“I’m sure everyone will agree that having a submarine is advantageous to any country but huwag naman sana ninyong isipin na war mongering tayo,” he said.

“We are just developing our capability because we just want to protect what is ours, what will benefit the Filipino people because that is our mandate.”

Some reports said that the Philippines is negotiating with Spain for the purchase of one or two submarines to strengthen its naval capability.

The government has been pursuing military modernization efforts to attain a minimum credible defense posture in the midst of increased tension in the Indo-Pacific region.