Reference News Network, July 5 report. According to the U.S. "Defense News" weekly website, July 2 report, the Philippines is strengthening its maritime defense posture, planning to build and upgrade multiple naval bases in key areas throughout the Philippine archipelago, including an island base under a base agreement with the United States and a former U.S. base located on Luzon Island.

Philippine Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro revealed to journalists last month a plan to accelerate infrastructure development on Balabac Island. Balabac Island is a joint air force and navy base located at the southern end of Palawan Province.

Teodoro said that the island is a "strategic location" for the Philippines, and increasing military presence there would prevent potential surveillance activities against the main island of Palawan.

Balabac Island is 140 nautical miles away from Mischief Reef (i.e., China's Mischief Reef - this newspaper note).

According to the base agreement between the Philippines and the United States, the Balabac Island base is also one of the Philippines' bases. The base agreement allows the United States to station troops here, pre-deploy military assets, and provide funding for the base upgrades.

The broader base agreement includes a total of nine military sites in the Philippines: six air force bases, two army bases, and one naval base located in northern Luzon.

In addition to Balabac Island, the Philippine Navy is also working to build more bases throughout the archipelago.

The Strategic Base Plan, which aims to be realized by 2040, is intended to strengthen the Philippine Navy's presence in key maritime corridors and upgrade the infrastructure of existing bases to accommodate current and upcoming fleets.

Philippine Navy spokesperson Roy Trinidad told the "Defense News" weekly magazine that these bases "are bases for both new and old warships."

In recent years, the Philippines has strengthened its naval forces by purchasing frigates, coastal patrol ships, maritime supply ships, fast attack craft, radar and missile systems. The Philippine Navy will also receive more light frigates from South Korea.

He said, "We want to find places in other regions where we can deploy warships. But the bigger goal is to have a stronger naval presence in this region of our country."

The Philippine Navy plans to establish 28 forward operating bases or small naval outposts in strategic locations near the "West Philippine Sea" (i.e., China's South China Sea - this newspaper note) and the "Philippine Seamount" (the Philippine name for "Benham Seamount" - this newspaper note) in the northeastern part of the country.

Trinidad said one of the largest projects is the naval base in Subic Bay and the naval support base in Mindanao.

In May this year, President Marcos announced at the ceremony commemorating the 127th anniversary of the Philippine Navy that the project related to the Navasanta Naval Base was about to break ground, and the renovation plan had been confirmed.

He said that the subsequent renovations were the bases on the islands of Chiquita and Grande in Subic Bay.

These locations are opposite the Agila Subic Shipyard, whose predecessor was the Hanjin Shipyard, which was acquired by the U.S. private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management in 2022.

At the same time, the naval support base in Natividad, Eastern Misamis, Mindanao, is expected to accommodate ships from Sandakan.

Trinidad said, "Currently, these areas will be declared as military reservations and then developed into naval bases." He added that they now just need to wait for the release of the presidential announcement documents.

Existing bases are undergoing improvements, including the construction of the Rafael L. Ramos Naval Base in Cebu City, which will accommodate frigates and maritime supply ships.

Trinidad said that in order to further streamline the country's external defense strategy, the military is exploring the construction of joint bases for the navy and air force.

He said, "This is the focus of the Department of Defense... Bases do not have to be exclusive. From the perspective of resource management, it is beneficial for us to build joint bases rather than develop them separately." (Translated by Hu Wei)

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