In the proposed 2025 appropriation, the DND is allocating $2.48 billion or 58 percent of its budget to personnel services, $1.3 billion or 31 percent for maintenance and other operating expenses and $479.1 million or 11 percent for capital outlay.
Nearing the end of his first year in Malacañang, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has stayed silent about his stand on the continuing calls from peace advocates to resume negotiations with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, which his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, unilaterally terminated in November 2017.
“Unsurprisingly, military rule has constricted mechanisms for redress, platforms for protest, and initiatives that petition the government for immediate action.”
Seen as a precedent to nationwide military rule in the Philippines, human rights groups and advocates and freedom-loving individuals readily opposed the second extension and denounced the Supreme Court’s decision.