00:00With this permission, Mr. Chairman, there seems to be a glaring disparity on our defense spending compared to our regional
00:07peers, particularly China.
00:10Kasi yung kanilang defense expenditure is 52 times ng Pilipinas sa kanila 335 billion US dollars or roughly 2.1
00:22trillion pesos.
00:24So, how do we compensate? How do we do a David against a Goliath in this regard?
00:30Kasi wala naman tayo magagawa except mag-improvise, hindi ba?
00:33So, meron ba tayo yung plano? Man lang.
00:37Sir, the best way is to make ourselves an uninviting target.
00:41The hard part there is that an uninviting target would mean only our land domain, which is only 20%
00:55of our total territory, 20 to 30%.
01:00However, for the land domain to be resilient, we need full exploitation and exploration of the 80% maritime domain.
01:12So, yun ho ang nagpapakomplicate ng situation.
01:16Pero, I believe ho that with the X billion reported by China, this is even understated because a lot of
01:26it, a lot of the budget does not go to the PLA but to the maritime militia, the coast guard,
01:32which are basically under the PLA but not officially reported.
01:39So, there is no substitute ho but to build a level of resilience which will make it very unattractive for
01:50them.
01:51There are ways ho. And we can also, in executive sessions, share some thoughts on it, Your Honors.
01:58You cannot see how we can match China, for example, with warships, missiles.
02:05We are not capable. We are not capable. We are not capable. Let's accept the fact.
02:09So, how do we improvise?
02:10Like what Ukraine is doing against Russia, for lack of a better analogy, we should also embark on a similar
02:19program, less costly, but effective.
02:24And we can match. Aside from, of course, our alliances, mutual defense treaties, yung ating SOPA, and sabi niyo nga
02:33kanina, yung kapapasalamang na treaty with France.
02:37So, aside from that, but we cannot solely rely on our allies kasi they have their own national interests to
02:46contend with.
02:47In the first place, yung France, medyo magulo. So, kailangan may mag-improvise tayo and I hope we are on
02:54the same page on this.
02:56We cannot just divulge. Yoko ano yung ongoing programs natin.
03:00But I was told that there is such a program.
03:03Meron, sir. Meron po. At kaya po, nirefocus na natin si Director Amano sa higher capabilities na pwede natin gamitin
03:19based on Ukraine.
03:20Ang maganda din pong halimbawa dito ay yung Vietnamese experience na talagang matatag din ang tayo nila sa China.
03:35At ginera na sila noong araw at hindi umubra. Yun nga lang iba talaga yung make-up ng Vietnamese society
03:46kesa sa atin.
03:47Sanay naman talaga sila sa... Yun ang balakid po sa atin. Kaya kailangan ho its deterrence rather than retaliation.
03:57And that's why ho in our alliances, we are focusing on the non-retaliatory features of our defense alliances.
04:06But focusing on the deterrence portion po.
04:13So, we will never match China in terms of pound-for-pound capability, but we will make the decision calculus
04:21as unfavorable to it as possible.
04:24That is the goal, Your Honor.
04:36You
