Amid widespread hunger and poverty, Department of Defense secretary Gilbert Teodoro announced yesterday the plan for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to buy missiles and 40 jet fighters at the cost of ₱300-₱400 billion. Teodoro announced the plan after a Congressional hearing related to the 2025 budget. The fighters will be purchased from American arms companies and their subsidiaries in other countries such as South Korea.

He said the jet fighters will be for “territorial defense.” However, the AFP’s attack planes and helicopters are used mainly in its counterinsurgency campaign against the revolutionary movement and people resisting in the countryside, and not in the West Philippine Sea. These soon-to-be purchased jet fighters will certainly be for this use as well.

Currently, the AFP is said to have 224 aircrafts. Twelve of these are FA-50s, purchased during the US-Aquino regime. Six of them are Super Tucano fighter jets, which were bought during the US-Duterte regime. The others are transport planes (16 units), transport and attack helicopters (78), training planes (25), surveillance planes (2), ocean patrols (1), and unmanned aerials vehicle or drone (22).

Under the Marcos regime alone, at least 60 cases of bombing, shelling and strafing were recorded from July 2022 to June 2024, including 32 incidents of aerial bombing. FA-50s and Super Tucanos were frequently used, as well as Agusta Westland AW109 and T129 ATAK helicopters. The highest number of bombings and strafing was recorded in Bukidnon, followed by Northern Samar, Abra, Kalinga, Cagayan and Aurora. There were also bombings in Oriental Mindoro, Western Samar, Misamis Oriental, Apayao, Surigao del Sur, Agusan del Norte, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Quezon and Camarines Sur, Nueva Vizcaya, Agusan del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte, Negros Oriental, Masbate and Samar.

In all cases, these aerial attacks were accompanied by extensive and sustained combat operations by the Philippine Army, often with artillery shelling. During these operations, soldiers commit widespread violations of civilian rights such as zoning, economic and food blockades, limiting mobility, surveillance, harassment and threats, arrests and detentions, and even killings.

In the Congressional hearing, the DND asked for ₱419.3 billion for 2025, 51% higher compared to its budget this year. The department raised the funding for the Revised AFP Modernization Program (RAFPMP), which is set to receive a 25% budget increase, from ₱40 billion to ₱50 billion. In its initial plan, the AFP will purchase FA-50PH light jet fighters from South Korea with the funds.