Manila: Despite seemingly improving ties with China, the Philippines is bolstering its capability to defend itself, a senior defence and international affairs analyst said.

Renato Cruz De Castro said in an article published by the think tank, the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI), said that as President Rodrigo Duterte exert efforts to improve his country’s relations with China, the Philippine leader continues with a legacy left behind by his predecessor, President Benigno Aquino III who started purchasing major defence equipment to safeguard the country’s territory.

“Aquino originally launched the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ modernisation programme as part of an effort to challenge China’s expansion in the South China Sea. But after Duterte’s election in 2016, the new president suggested he would pursue a policy of gravitating closer to China while ignoring territorial defence and focusing again on internal security,” said De Castro, a full professor in the International Studies Department, De La Salle University in Manila an holds the Charles Lui Chi Keung Professorial Chair in China Studies.

However, Duterte’s seeming rapprochement with China doesn’t seem to have held him back from approving major arms purchases under the “Horizon 2” defence capability upgrade.

The Philippines’ defence build-up programme is separated into three five-year phases, or “horizons.” The first horizon started in 2013 and ended in 2017. It mainly involved the acquisition of military hardware for internal defence.

“The second horizon, which will be implemented from 2018 to 2022, entails an ambitious transition period wherein the Armed Forces of the Philippines will shift its arms acquisitions away from internal security to territorial defence. This will require a huge allocation of P300 billion (Dh20.56 billion),” he said.

Under the Horizon 2 programme, Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the Philippines is expected to acquire its first submarine as well as modern, multi-role air defence aircraft with more capabilities that its present F/A 50 fighter-bombers from South Korea.

The acquisition of a submarine, even a small one, had been envisioned by the country as distant as 25 years ago, however, lack of finances have been a major concern for the country.

But while saddled with budgetary constraints in previous years, an improving economy and an administration committed to defence, had allowed the country to turn its attention to external security.

Lorenzana said submarines would provide the country with a credible underwater deterrent capability.

Further acquisitions of submarines will be under the Horizon 3 programme.

De Castro said while ties with China seem to be a flourishing, the Duterte administration is hard pressed to give attention on improving the country’s defence capabilities.

“First, Duterte needs to maintain support from the military, especially as he seeks to shift the country away from its historical reliance on the United States and toward a closer relationship with China … Second, Philippine public opinion remains highly suspicious of Chinese actions in the South China Sea and is critical of the administration’s efforts to improve relations with Beijing,” he said.

He said the Duterte administration is under pressure from the political opposition and civil society groups for not pushing Beijing to comply with the 2016 arbitral award and failing to denounce recent Chinese actions in the South China Sea.