ABSTRACT
The Republic of the Philippines Navy (PN) is one of the weakest and least capitalized navies in South-East Asia. Despite US assistance after the Second World War, it has long suffered from Philippine government complacency, based on the defence umbrella provided by the American presence between 1902 and 1992. The government has done little since to compensate for the loss of that umbrella, mainly because of its preoccupation with internal insurgency. Consequently, the PN has not developed the capabilities to meet its considerable surveillance and presence responsibilities. It has yet to acquire the weapons and sensors or the command, control and surveillance systems common to many of its neighbours, while many major units are approaching 70 years of service. 1
