Manila: The Philippine government will spend P18 billion (Dh1.5 billion) for two new frigates to man its western seaboard that faces the South China Sea, a sea-lane contested by five more claimants, a local paper said.

After a thorough study, the department of defence realised it would be cheaper to buy a P9 billion brand new frigate than a P6 billion second hand frigate, Defence Undersecretary Fernando Manalo told the Inquirer.

Refurbishment and maintenance of a second-hand frigate would make it more expensive in the long run, said Manalo, adding that countries such as South Korea, Spain and Singapore have expressed their desire to bid for the sale of two new frigates.

“We are waiting for the Philippine Navy to submit its decision package. We will review it and issue an acquisition decision memorandum signed by Defence Secretary Voltaire Gazmin. The process would take a week, prior to one or two pre-bid conferences,” Manalo said.

For the first time, the Philippines is buying brand new war materiel for its defence, a plan that was made more than 20 years ago.

Earlier, President Benigno Aquino said: “We are not sending paper boats out to the sea. Now, our 36,000 kilometres of coastline will be patrolled by more modern ships,” in reference to the two second hand frigates of the Philippine Navy.

BRP Gregorio del Pilar, the Philippine Navy’s only battleship, is a 48-year-old Hamilton-class cutter acquired from the United States in 2011.

BRP Ramon Alcaraz, the Philippine Navy’s second warship, is a 45-year old frigate, also a Hamilton class cutter that was brought from the US Coast Guard for P450 million (Dh37.5 million) last May 2012.

Alcaraz is undergoing refurbishment in Charleston, South Carolina, which will be completed in June.

The two old warships were bought by the Philippine government through the US government’s military assistance programme for the Philippines.

When they were bought, Aquino said the two old frigates were key purchases for the upgrading of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

The Philippine government failed to modernise its navy and air force because it depended on the US Air Forces and the US Navy when it hosted two of the US’s largest war facilities in central Luzon’s Angeles, Pampanga and Olongapo, Zambales.

In 1991, the Philippine Congress rejected the US-proposed extension of the now defunct US-Philippines Military bases Agreement (MBA), the basis of the US presence in the Philippines since 1898.

Since then, the Philippine government has been transforming for commercial use the former US Naval Base in Olongapo, and the former US Air Base in Angeles, Pampanga.

China, Taiwan, and Vietnam claim the whole of the South China Sea based on historical rights. Brunei, Malaysia, and the Philippines claim some parts of the Spratly Archipelago in the South China Sea, based on the provision of the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 200 nautical exclusive economic zone to countries, starting from their shores.

The Philippines has the weakest armed forces among all the claimants in the South China Sea.