MANILA – The planned joint ammunition manufacturing facility in Subic Bay is being positioned as a critical component of both United States and Philippine security strategies, amid intensifying tensions in the Indo-Pacific region.
US President Donald Trump, following a bilateral meeting with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., affirmed the project’s importance, saying it supports American military preparedness while bolstering the Philippines’ defense capabilities.
“It’s very important. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have approved it,” Trump said during a press conference at the White House early Wednesday (Manila time).
“We need ammunition. We’re going to end up in a few months, we’ll have more ammunition than any country has ever had… missiles, the speedy ones, the slow ones, the accurate ones — we have everything,” he added.
The proposed facility, which will rise within the Subic Bay Freeport Zone in Zambales, is part of ongoing US-Philippine defense collaboration under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA). The initiative also reflects Washington’s renewed interest in strengthening forward-operating logistics in the region.
President Marcos clarified that the facility is consistent with the Philippines’ Self-Reliant Defense Posture(SRDP)program and underscores the government’s intent to build up local defense industries with international support.
“This is actually (the US) assisting the Philippines in what we call our self-reliance defense program, which is to allow us to be self-reliant and to be able to stand on our own two feet, whatever the circumstances that occur in the future,” Marcos said.
He also acknowledged that ongoing modernization efforts, including the potential hosting of more US missile systems, are a response to emerging regional threats.
“We would certainly like any kind of military spending — we would wish that it wasn’t necessary, but it is,” he said.
The US House Committee on Appropriations has tasked the Department of Defense, State Department, and International Development Finance Corporation to conduct a feasibility study for the Subic Bay facility.
Subic Bay, a former US naval base turned commercial hub, remains a vital geopolitical asset given its proximity to the West Philippine Sea — a section of the South China Sea that falls within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone but overlaps with China’s expansive maritime claims./PN
