Here are the comparative stats for India and the Philippines:
India
Nominal GDP - $2,041 Billion
Population - 1,277 Million
Per Capita GDP - $1,598
Defense Budget - $40.7 Billion
Poverty Level - 29.8%
Poor Headcount - 380,546,000
Philippines
Nominal GDP - $330 Billion
Population - 101 Million
Per Capita GDP - $3,267
Defense Budget - $3.8 Billion
Poverty Level - 25.2%
Poor Headcount - 25,452,000
Here are the interpretations of the above stats:
1. The living conditions of the average Indian is much worse than the average Filipino.
2. At about 381 Million, the number of poor people in India is almost 4X the total population of the Philippines.
3. Percentage-wise, the poverty level in India is also higher than in the Philippines.
4. Despite her not-so-rosy economic conditions, India managed to come up with a Defense Budget of about $41 Billion. And this level of defense spending enabled her to invest in aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines, cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, satellites, and nukes.
5. Just like the Philippines, India is also a Democracy.
Conclusion
Poverty and lack of money is not the main cause of the laughable state of the Philippine Military.
The Filipino Poor is just being used as a convenient bleeding-heart excuse.
The main causes are:
1. lack of Political Will; and
2. in the case of the Duterte Administration... Fear.
Fear of offending their Communist Chinese Masters.
Even clearer picture when you compare the Philippines with the war-recovering but poorer Vietnam (GDP per capita: US$2,200) who are doing 2 things significantly, better: 1) Poverty level: 8.2% or 7 millions, 2) By end of 2016 or early 2017, Vietnam is expected to overtake Indonesia as #1 military of ASEAN and well positioned to deter Chinese aggression with asymmetric warfare.
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