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Philippines Navy
The navy, the newest of the services, traces its ancestry to
the Offshore Patrol, which was formed as part of the army in
February 1939. It became autonomous and was redesignated the
Philippine Naval Patrol in 1947. After the armed forces
reorganized in 1950, the force became known as the navy. Naval
personnel strength of approximately 25,000 in 1990 included
marine, coast guard, and naval air units. Naval headquarters was
in Manila, close to its major base at Cavite, south of the city.
Other major naval bases were located in Zamboanga City, Cebu
City, and at Subic Bay on Luzon, west of Manila. The Subic Bay
facility, probably without peer as a deep-water port in the
region, was used almost exclusively by the United States Navy.
The navy's principal mission was to protect and police the
nation's 7,100 islands with a combined coastline of 36,289
kilometers, double that of the United States, and the
Philippines' claimed exclusive economic zone
(EEZ--see Glossary)
of 200 nautical miles. The navy also had important support
missions for the other armed forces and agencies of the
government, especially in transporting troops and equipment
between islands. It occasionally joined with other services in
conducting joint operations and amphibious assaults. Through its
subordinate coast guard arm, the navy was responsible for
enforcement of maritime laws and regulations and countering
widespread smuggling, poaching, and pirating in Philippine
waters, including interception of covert supply lines to
insurgent groups. The navy was hard-pressed to fulfill its broad
responsibilities; senior naval officers candidly admitted that
the fleet was too small and ill-maintained to patrol its large
coastline and EEZ effectively and protect the Philippine claim to
Kalayaan.
The navy was commanded by a rear admiral, known as the flag
officer in command, who was supported by vice and deputy flag
officers in command. Major naval operating forces came under the
commander of the fleet, who directed the naval air, special
warfare, assault craft, amphibious, and patrol groups. The navy
also maintained six naval districts that supervised deployed
naval forces under the operational control of the area unified
commanders. The naval headquarters controlled the training
command, coast guard and marine commands, and the naval support
group which provided supply and maintenance support to the fleet.
All major combatants in the fleet were former United States
ships, most of World War II vintage. In late 1989, the navy
maintained three frigates and eleven corvettes, none with
missiles (see
table 20, Appendix). Consistent with the navy's
mission, the mainstays of the fleet were patrol boats, including
twelve coastal and thirty-nine inshore patrol craft. The navy
also used eleven amphibious ships and some seventy-five landing
craft for inter-island transport.
Many of the navy's ships, however, were in poor repair and of
questionable operational capability. Roughly one-third of the
ships were said to be serviceable, and only about twenty of them
put to sea regularly. Because of these operational deficiencies,
which the navy attributed to budget shortfalls, the navy embarked
on a modernization program in 1990. Plans called for the overhaul
of some ships and for the acquisition of thirty-five new patrol
craft. Several older ships, including four frigates, had been
decommissioned in the late 1980s, and more retirements of
inoperable ships were planned.
The coast guard, established in 1967, was the navy's law
enforcement arm. Its responsibilities included testing and
licensing seamen and vessels, providing navigational aids, and
protecting life and property at sea. To fulfill these missions,
the coast guard operated nearly ninety small patrol boats and
conducted search and rescue operations with two larger boats, a
fixed-wing aircraft, and a helicopter. In 1990 the coast guard
commander, a navy commodore, supervised some 2,000 personnel and
8 operational districts.
Although the marine corps mission was to conduct amphibious
operations, in practice the marines generally were employed in
assisting the army and constabulary in counterinsurgency
operations against the Moros and communists. The service was
commanded by the marine commandant, a brigadier general, and
headquartered at Fort Bonifacio in Manila. The marine corps grew
modestly during the 1980s; strength in 1990 was about 8,000
troops, up from 6,800 troops in 1983. The marine corps
organization grew commensurately, from two brigades to four. The
ten marine battalions were equipped with a variety of mostly
United States-made equipment, including amphibious vehicles,
armored personnel carriers, and howitzers. Their performance in
counterinsurgency operations had earned marines the reputation
for being a well-disciplined and well-respected force, but their
support of Marcos in 1986 and involvement in a subsequent coup
attempt against Aquino tarnished the marines' image.
Data as of June 1991
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