MANILA, Philippines — Strengthening the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) is what most Filipinos want the government to pursue in defending the country's maritime rights, according to a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey commissioned by the Stratbase Group.
Results of the Second Quarter 2026 survey, conducted from June 20 to 29, showed that 45 percent of respondents identified support for the modernization of the AFP and the PCG as their first priority in protecting the country's maritime rights.
The survey was conducted after Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. proposed increasing the country's defense spending to as much as 4 percent of gross domestic product to strengthen the Philippines' ability to counter Chinese aggression and protect its rights in the West Philippine Sea.
Across the country, support for military modernization as the top priority was highest in Luzon at 47 percent, followed by the National Capital Region at 46 percent, the Visayas at 44 percent, and Mindanao at 39 percent.
The survey asked respondents to identify their first and second preferred measures the government should continue implementing to defend the country's maritime rights.
As a first choice, reinforcing alliances and expanding maritime cooperative activities and military exercises with allies, friends and partners ranked second at 33 percent, while 22 percent favored establishing defense and security agreements with like-minded countries.
When asked for their second choice, reinforcing alliances emerged as the leading response, with 39 percent of respondents selecting it. The option received 41 percent support in both the National Capital Region and the Visayas, 39 percent in Luzon, and 37 percent in Mindanao.
Establishing defense and security agreements ranked next at 31 percent, while 30 percent selected continued modernization of the AFP and PCG as their second priority. Support for modernization as a second choice was highest in Mindanao at 34 percent, followed by the Visayas at 30 percent, Luzon at 28 percent, and the National Capital Region at 26 percent.
The Stratbase Group said the findings are consistent with an earlier Pulse Asia survey it commissioned in May, which found that 86 percent of Filipinos support working with countries such as the United States, Japan, South Korea, Australia and Canada in defending the West Philippine Sea.
The SWS survey interviewed 1,200 adults nationwide through face-to-face interviews from June 20 to 29. It has a margin of error of ±3 percentage points for national results and ±6 percentage points for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao at the 95 percent confidence level.
