Assessing the Military Readiness of the Philippine Navy Through Yearly Budget Allocation

The Philippines faces a wide spectrum of traditional and non-traditional security threats. As such, the Philippine Navy (PN) is responsible for preparing and sustaining its forces to mitigate different maritime security risks, playing a significant role in achieving the overarching objectives of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). A key aspect of this responsibility is ensuring the availability of reliable fleet-marine assets for the naval forces. The navy's military readiness relies on a number of crucial factors, including personnel upkeep, training, equipment, and facility maintenance. This thesis examines the effect of budget allocation on the military preparedness of the PN to perform its assigned missions. A combination of qualitative and quantitative analyses was employed, focusing primarily on the yearly government funding provided to the navy. The PNs military readiness has recently been improved by the acquisition of new equipment through partnerships with allied countries and the AFP Modernization Program. However, this thesis shows that the PN requires additional resources to maintain these new assets operational efficiency. Therefore, an increase in budget allocation is crucial to ensure that the new equipment is in proper working condition, with the end view of enhancing the PNs military readiness.