Under Duterte’s 3.35 trillion peso (around $70 billion) budget for 2017 signed into law on December 22 – the biggest ever of its kind – 137.2 billion pesos was allocated for defense, compared to 117.5 billion pesos for 2016. That constituted a roughly 17 percent year-on-year increase but it is still just around 1 percent of GDP. It is important to note, though, that this does not include the spending for procurement under the Armed Forces Modernization
