P17.4B AFP upgrade funds diverted to COVID-19 efforts

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THE Department of National Defense has re-allocated about P17.4 billion in AFP modernization funds to the country’s fight against COVID-19 which has infected nearly 50,000 people.

Defense spokesman Arsenio Andolong said “nine big-ticket modernization projects,” mostly related to “territorial defense,” would be shelved in the process.

“What’s left in our budget are funds for projects which are in the advanced stages of procurement. The entire modernization program has also been set back by three to five years,” added Andolong.

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He declined to give details on the projects.

The Philippines is in a dispute with China and four other countries over areas in the South China Sea. China claims most of the sea, while the Philippines claims part of it, like Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam.

The 15-year modernization program started during administration of President Ramos. Its major source of funds is the national government through the annual budget, and was initially allocated P5 billion a year. The program was extended during the time of President Aquino. It’s budget has been raised to P10 billion a year.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said, “Some projects under deliberation are put on hold, those whose contracts have not been perfected yet.”

Andolong said the defense department decided to re-allocate the P17.4-billion fund based on the guidance of President Duterte to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III produce funds to fight the pandemic.

He said Dominguez then asked government agencies “to revert funds that can be sacrificed for our COVID-19, so that is the response of the DND, so the modernization fund was cut.”

Andolong said the timeline of the nine projects would have to be moved because of the funds. “It was pushed back, we are hoping to complete them sometime, later on,” he said.

“These items (projects) are mostly related to territorial defense,” said Andolong, adding that the military cannot shelve acquisition of munitions because the military has ongoing internal security operations.

“We learned lesson (from COVID-19), albeit the lesson is a little painful. We’re giving up some of our territorial defense plans to deal with this current crisis which will be here for quite some time,” Andolong also said.

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