By Lade Jean Kabagani
Copyright tribune
Defense Secretary Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro Jr. clarified on Wednesday that the government has not yet received any formal proposals regarding the reported United States (U.S.)-backed ammunition hub in Subic, Zambales.In an interview on the sidelines of a Palace event, Teodoro said the initiative was part of a U.S. congressional equity grant that is purely private sector-driven and is not included in the 2026 national budget proposal of the Department of National Defense.“It’s not. That is actually a congressional equity grant to US companies, but we have not seen any such development, proposal, or anything that is a congressional initiative of the US government. So we will wait. And it’s a totally private initiative, by the way,” Teodoro explained. “So we will wait because the US government does not enter into these things. It gives equity to US companies. And US companies naturally will look for joint venture partners or look for a location here as a regular commercial endeavor,” he added.Meanwhile, Teodoro confirmed that the Philippine Navy is set to receive the largest budget allocation among the armed services in 2026. Teodoro said these funds will go toward augmenting fleet capability and building the necessary infrastructure to support new vessels previously ordered.“Those are needed in order to augment the existing fleet and to prepare also for infrastructure that is needed to receive the new ships that were ordered before. So this will add significance to our presence in the West Philippine Sea and our ability to our fleet,” he said. “Because the critical thing here is that we don’t have an operational dockyard. We don’t have the location for it,” he added.Teodoro also pointed out that for every ship, there are “ten other components” required to keep them operational, from maintenance systems to weapons support.“We have to build it and the ships are just the visible function of what, if for every one ship, you need about 10 pieces of things to keep them afloat. And that’s what we need,” he said. “If not, then the ships will just be on port most of the time. And or their weapon systems will be marginal. And our reserves,” he added.
