Strategic naval bases needed for our territorial waters

Now that the House of Representatives has decided to reallocate the P1.23 billion confidential funds to agencies with surveillance and intelligence activities aimed at protecting the West Philippine Sea (WPS), it’s time that we consider the task of effectively protecting our territorial waters on a long-term basis through the construction of well-selected naval bases. Fortunately for us, a methodical dissertation study was conducted, in 1995 by Proscoro Ervin Mundo, that recommends the innovative strategy of identifying naval bases that are responsive not only to the country’s national security requirements but also to its regional development goals. Thus, his work reflects the current liberal American thinking that military facilities are primarily established to protect national economic interests. Using updated urban and regional planning theories and methodologies and rigorously generated centrality location factors, Mundo’s research came up with a selection of six naval base locations out of 371 bays, coves, and harbors identified in the contested maritime area, as follows: Subic Bay, Zambales; Sangley Point, Cavite City; Ulugan Bay, Palawan; Margosatubig Bay, Zamboanga Del Sur; and Davao Gulf, Panacan, Davao City.

Subic Bay will serve as home of the Philippine fleet that will sustain naval operations in the country’s northern areas, and an area within Subic will be developed as a real estate venture using the public-private partnership approach. Sangley Point will continue to serve as an existing facility of the Philippine fleet that will also provide protection for the surrounding Manila Bay urban areas. Ulugan Bay in Puerto Princesa will be developed as a naval reservation that will provide direct support to the security requirements of the WPS, the service contracts of the Department of Energy, and the planned tourism activities in Pag-asa Island.

The naval reservation in Mactan Island will be developed as the center of the “hub and spoke” naval strategy where the repair, logistics, and other support services of the Philippine fleet will be relocated. Thus, under this scheme, the other five selected bases will serve as the supporting spokes of the Mactan hub in a set-up where there is interdependence of bases and provision of redundant options for a sustainable naval logistics support system.

The naval plan further proposes prioritizing the development of Subic Bay, Ulugan Bay, and Margosatubig Bay, particularly as operating bases that will support the sustained conduct of naval operations and shall serve as the primary areas for reception, staging, and onward integration in support of the constitutional mandate of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. I would like to point out, however, that there is a need to prioritize further the development of Ulugan Bay, considering its proximity to our Kalayaan Islands and other contested island groupings. Sad to say, there appears to be no sense of urgency in the implementation of our AFP’s modernization program which is also seen in the insufficient proposed 2024 budget of P229.93 billion for the Department of National Defense. We need to have the “siege mentality” that we see among the militarily strong Israelis, Vietnamese, South Koreans, and Taiwanese.

Meliton B. Juanico, melitonbjuanico@gmail.com