Muntinlupa Rep. Ruffy Biazon (File photo)
MANILA – A lawmaker at the House of Representatives on Tuesday stressed the need to provide additional sources of funds outside the General Appropriations Act for the modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Muntinlupa Rep. Ruffy Biazon, vice chair of the House committee on appropriations, made the statement as the panel deliberated on the proposed PHP283.2-billion budget of the Department of National Defense (DND) for 2021.
Biazon said that while DND usually ranks among the top five agencies based on the amount appropriated every year, the current and emerging challenges that the country is now facing, especially in securing Philippine sovereign territory, require more than what is provided for under the spending measure.
“The need to provide for the modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to upgrade its capabilities to perform its role in securing the country’s sovereign territory and rights such as the exclusive economic zone, countering terrorism and local insurgency as well as conducting humanitarian assistance and disaster relief in times of calamities and other emergencies should compel Congress to find other means of sourcing funds beyond the General Appropriations Act (GAA),” he said.
Aside from the passing of the GAA, he said providing funds for the AFP to upgrade its capability can also be done through the passage of other laws as well.
House Bill 699 seeks to amend the Bases Conversion Development Law to increase the share of the AFP for its modernization program from the current 35 percent to 55 percent.
Biazon said that based on the average remittances of the BCDA in the first three years of the Duterte administration amounting to PHP15.2 billion, this proposal would yield an additional PHP3 billion in one year.
“The bill also expands the coverage of the properties where the AFP could benefit from since the current law only provides for the AFP Modernization proceeds from the sale of military camps within Metro Manila. There are more military properties in other parts of the country,” he said.
House Bill 555, meanwhile, proposes the creation of the Military Real Estate Development Authority, which would enable the AFP to manage its properties and maximize the benefit of the use of those properties, making the AFP “partially self-sustaining”.
He highlighted that under this proposal, the AFP could retain ownership of the properties for its strategic purposes while earning from its commercial potential, unlike the present regime where the AFP loses real estate and yet does not receive the full benefit.
House Bill 4304 seeks to authorize the DND to designate or declare certain areas of the public domain as strategic for the security of the country to ensure that national security is not compromised in pursuit of commercial activities.
“This will avoid instances where national security is set aside in the development of certain properties such as the situation in Sangley Point where the Philippine Navy Base is threatened of being booted out of a strategic location which serves as a staging point for the defense of the West Philippine Sea and Manila Bay,” he said.
During the budget hearing, DND Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the Philippine Navy continues to patrol the West Philippine Sea, the portion of the South China Sea falling within the Philippine exclusive economic zone.
Lorenzana stressed that the country would continue to assert its sovereignty over the West Philippine Sea despite limited assets.
"Napakalawak ng West Philippine Sea (is very wide) and the Navy has limited assets and also the Air Force. But we are trying our best with our limited assets to assert our sovereignty over the area," Lorenzana said.
Under the DND’s proposed budget for next year, PHP208.7 billion is for regular funds and PHP74.5 billion is for the pension of AFP retirees. (PNA)
