SINGAPORE — The Philippines’ defense secretary cast doubt on a $5.6 billion purchase of American F-16 fighter jets approved in April, saying Manila hasn’t yet decided whether to move forward with the sale.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, a defense summit held in Singapore, Gilberto Teodoro said the Philippines hadn’t yet received a formal offer to purchase the fourth-generation fighters. Even if it had, he said, his department doesn’t know whether it wants them.
“As far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing on the table for me to consider,” he said in an interview.
In April, the U.S. State Department approved the potential sale of 20 F-16 fighter jets to the Philippines, as part of a package that also included missiles, bombs and other ammunition. The total was valued at just under $5.6 billion, which would have commanded a massive share of the Philippines’ defense budget.
Manila spends about $6 billion, or 1.3% of its GDP, on its military each year, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, a think tank.
Teodoro referred to the purported sale as “media hype,” without explaining why the State Department initially approved it.
“We have not even decided, number one, when we will acquire a multi-role fighter and what model,” he said.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited the Philippines in March as the U.S. upgrades its alliance with the country in an effort to better compete with China. The two met again over the weekend in Singapore, where Hegseth warned that the military threat Beijing poses “could be imminent” and urged allies to spend more on defense.
To some Philippine officials, the sale of fighter jets was a sign of long-term U.S. commitment and a show of trust that their military could handle such advanced equipment. But soon after the announcement other officials from the country began to question how they could afford such a large purchase without American assistance.
The U.S. sent the Philippines $500 million in long-term security aid last year but would need Congress to pass more in order to continue such support.
During the Biden administration, the U.S. and Philippines agreed on a “roadmap” of weapons to purchase in the years ahead as Manila upgrades its military. That plan largely consists of equipment to help survey and protect the Philippines’ vast coastlines, not high-end fighter jets.
At the conference here, Teodoro had a testy exchange with Chinese delegates in attendance, who asked critical questions about the Philippines’ alliance with the United States.
Chinese coast guard vessels routinely harass Philippine ships in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims as its own despite a contrary ruling in 2016 from the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
“China has a lot of trust building to do to be an effective negotiating partner,” Teodoro said during remarks on stage. “We have to call a spade a spade.”
Noah Robertson is the Pentagon reporter at Defense News. He previously covered national security for the Christian Science Monitor. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English and government from the College of William & Mary in his hometown of Williamsburg, Virginia.
