DEFENSE Secretary Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro Jr asked business executives and managers to assist in the military’s modernization program.
Teodoro made the call before members of the Management Association of the Philippines on Wednesday as he cited “geopolitical problems” worldwide, including the tension in the West Philippine Sea.
H said the defense and military establishments need the support of the private sector in the “quest” to develop a self-reliant defense posture “in order to deter, in order to prevent, those that would poach or appropriate the resources that rightly belong to future generations of Filipinos, not only us.”
“We will need your support in the future because this is a continuing struggle for our territorial integrity, sovereignty, and sovereign rights amidst significant challenges to try not only to make our EEZ (exclusive economic zone) and other areas where we have jurisdiction smaller, to constrict it, but also weaken our resolve to stand up and resist attempts to change the narrative of what international law is and what belongs to the Filipinos,” he said.
Teodoro urged MAP members to develop “creative financing solutions to help the national government ease the burden that an honest-to-goodness modernization will create in the fiscal position of the government.”
He said significant resources are needed to fund the AFP modernization program and the government has to balance the economy and spending for infrastructure, social services, education, and various other priorities.
“We need to find off-budget, non-traditional financing sources for modernization but not (based) on the model of the old BCDA (Bases Conversion and Development Authority), where land was traded for modernization,” said Teodoro.
“Therefore, I ask your help for creative financing for us where we can spread out the terms of whatever financial arrangements we can make to limit the size of amortizations that the national government will make to make it more palatable,” he added.
Teodoro cited the need to build up the Philippines’ defense posture amid the geopolitical problems occurring worldwide, including in the disputed West Philippine Sea where China has been harassing and bullying Philippine government vessels and even fishing boats, through dangerous maneuvers, water cannoning, and even ramming.
He said the tension in the West Philippine Sea “has affected the business cycles in the Philippines” and “caused some lack of confidence in the geopolitical stability of the region.”
Teodoro discussed with the MAP members the Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept which the defense and the military establishments is also implementing.
He said the country “will project our defensive capabilities to secure not only the land base of the Philippines but its exclusive economic zone and other areas where we have jurisdiction.”
“We will project our strategic basing outwards to the baselines, which (are) the foundation of the measurement of our exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and try to protect these as best as we can from intrusion, and from illegal changing of narratives that these belong to anyone else but the Philippines,” added Teodoro.
He rejected insinuations that the increase in the tempo in the military’s bilateral and multilateral trainings is in preparation for war, and an act provoking conflict.
“No, that is not true. That is scaring our people,” he said.
He thanked members of MAP and the private sector for their continuing support to Filipino troops who he said exercised the “highest degree of professionalism and mission focus” during the latest Chinese harassment.
On June 17, Chinese vessels hit a Philippine boat on a military resupply mission to Ayungin Shoal. One of the Filipino troops lost his right thumb when the rigid-hull inflatable boat (RHIB) he was on was rammed by a Chinese RHIB.
