Philippine Navy sailors stand in formation as their newly-acquired vessel, the Pohang-class corvette BRP Conrado Yap (PS39), prepares to dock at the international port in Manila on August 20, 2019. 聽(Photo by TED ALJIBE / AFP)
MANILA, Philippines 鈥� Increasing the budget to two percent for defense would boost the country鈥檚 national security, an expert said on Tuesday.
Dr. Renato de Castro, a professor from De La Salle University, said that the budget hike is among the steps to improve national security under the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
The challenge for Marcos is 鈥渢o transform the previous administration鈥檚 makeshift strategy of limited hard balancing to a well-thought, comprehensive, and formal National Security Strategy,鈥� he said.
De Castro suggested passing a law that mandates the annual defense budget to be 2 percent of the gross domestic product.
鈥淒iplomacy has to work with military capability. The first approach is to wean the military away from internal security to basically support external and territorial defense,鈥� he said in a forum.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 time for the Filipinos to pay the cost of external defense by increasing the share of the defense budget to two percent. A number of countries in Europe have already done it. I think it鈥檚 also time that we have to consider this,鈥� he added.
De Castro likewise said that the National Security Council should craft a new National Security Strategy based on the Hague鈥檚 ruling in 2016.
Six years ago, the Permanent Court of Arbitration invalidated China鈥檚 nine-dash line claim over the South China Sea.
De Castro hoped that the new national security adviser would not consider the ruling to be a piece of paper, but rather a guide to the country鈥檚 national security strategy.
Last year, former President 鈥� who said China is a 鈥済ood friend鈥� 鈥� .
De Castro also proposed to create a 鈥渕edium-term guideline that would link the [Armed Forces of the Philippines] modernization program with the defense policies鈥� of the United States, the country鈥檚 formal treaty ally, and its security partners.