Senate passes bill amending AFP Modernization Program

MANILA, Philippines - The Senate approved on third and final reading on Monday a bill which seeks to amend the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Modernization Act after senators noted the program fell short of its targets.

Senator Panfilo Lacson, chairman of the Senate committee on national defense and security and principal author of the bill, said the AFP modernization program under Republic Act No. 7898, which ended last year, had “failed in many aspects.”

“The first AFP Modernization Program started on Dec. 19, 1996 with the approval of Joint Resolution No. 28 by the 10th Congress. What was envisioned as a modernization program turned out to be only a capability upgrade for the AFP. But even at this level, the program still fell short of its targets,” Lacson said in his sponsorship speech.

The revised AFP Modernization Program, Lacson explained, seeks to rectify the flaws and pitfalls of the previous model and incorporate provisions that will ensure a more efficient and cost-effective implementation of the program.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, a former defense secretary, said he fully supported the passage of the bill.

”There is a compelling need to look into these modernization efforts and government leaders need to provide the policy guidance, crucial resources and exercise the proper oversight to help the military become more responsive to our security needs,” Enrile said.

Senate Bill No. 3164 was approved with 21 affirmative votes, zero negative vote and zero abstention.

Under the proposed measure, Lacson said, a new system will be introduced to cut down the procurement process from 29 stages to two assessment levels in addition to the actual procurement and contracting stages.

Lacson said the “redundant and tedious procurement system” was one of the causes of delay in the modernization efforts.

The measure will also set the policy of the program to avoid shifts in priorities.

“It appears that in a span of 15 years, the project list as contained in Joint Resolution 28 has been changed 11 times. In fact, there were instances when the list was changed twice in a single year,” Lacson noted.

The constant shifts in priorities, he said, had caused serious setbacks in the modernization of the AFP.

“SBN 3164 also introduces changes in the provision regarding the AFP Modernization Act trust fund. One fundamental change is that the fund can now be used to cover all necessary expenses to implement the procurement of equipment such as expenses for the pre-selection and post-qualification stages. According to the military, the lack of funds to pay for these expenses hinders the entire procurement process,” Lacson said.

To expedite the process, he said, the approval of Congress will no longer be required in the lease or joint development of military reservations. The consent of the President will be enough for such act.

However, he said Congress has to approve the sale of military reservations. The proceeds of the project entered into by either the Department of National Defense or the AFP will form part of the trust fund.

“The creation of a congressional oversight committee is also proposed under SBN 3164. The main purpose of having this oversight committee is to give Congress the needed muscle to safeguard the public funds allocated in the program and to ensure that this new modernization program will be implemented as envisioned under the proposed measure,” Lacson said.

“The modernization of our AFP must be made a priority of this administration,” he added.

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Philippine News Agency/InterAksyon.Com | June 5, 2012 | Article Link

Philippine defense secretary admits AFP upgrade plan a dud

Manila (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN) - Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin on Saturday said the law on the modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines expired in December "with little progress."

Speaking at this year's Philippine Military Academy alumni homecoming, Gazmin said: "RA 7898 (AFP Modernization Act) was signed in December 1996. [This law] was closely tied to the need to maintain our territorial integrity to uphold and safeguard the integrity of our nation."

But the law "ran the full length of its implementing period and expired [in December 2011] without any significant progress being made in its agenda," he said.

Gazmin blamed delays in the release of funds for the programme's poor implementation.

"[But] of the P331 billion(US$8 billion) meant to be allotted for the programme, only P35 billion was released to the AFP after 15 years. And this amount was used for the capability upgrade programme of the AFP for internal operations," he said.

To restore the AFP's primary agenda, the Aquino administration has allocated P16.927 billion "for the express purpose of modernizing the AFP," he said.

"Of this amount, 18 projects worth P4.34 billion were completed, including the acquisition of the BRP Gregorio del Pilar, the country's first Hamilton-class vessel. The good news is we can expect more of these kinds of equipment and vehicles in the coming years," he said.

At least eight brand new helicopters would be acquired, he added.

Gazmin said the government has also increased combat pay by authorizing P260 a month in additional allowance to each soldier.

The government also built 21,800 houses in northern and Central Luzon for soldiers.

Gazmin said the AFP had set up a defense acquisition system, with 138 projects lined up in the next five years and funded by the national budget.

Part of the AFP modernization trust fund would have come from the proceeds of land sold by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA).

Addressing malpractices

BCDA president Arnel Paciano Casanova, who attended the PMA homecoming as an adopted member of Class 1987, said the agency remitted to the national treasury P2.3 billion in 2011. The agency is in charge of selling or disposing of some military camps.

Gazmin said he was addressing "serious malpractices in our bureaucracy."

"There are still some who refuse to join us in these reforms. Our Philippine Veterans Affairs Office administrator, Ernesto Carolina, has been hard at work ridding the agency of fixers and other unscrupulous individuals who heartlessly victimize our veterans. As a consequence, he has been the subject of a retaliatory harassment case by an employee against whom he had filed an extortion case," he said.

Gazmin did not elaborate. However, he said he continued to support Carolina.

But the AFP is not blameless.

The Commission on Audit has seconded much of Gazmin's remarks in a separate report.

State auditors, however, said the Armed Forces had its own shortcomings that contributed to the programme's poor implementation. There was slow decision-making on some aspects and personnel were lacking for the programme's implementation.

In its 2010 report on the AFP General Headquarters that was released recently, the COA said that 15 years after the modernization programme was established, the AFP had only implemented 55 per cent or 278 projects out of the programmemed 504.

"Over the 15-year implementation period, only 278 or 55 per cent of the 504 AFP modernization projects were completed and the objective of the AFP Modernization programme...was not realized," it said.

Lack of funds

The COA agreed that a major reason for the modernization programme's poor implementation was lack of funds: The legislature appropriated only P35 billion or 10.02 per cent of the P331.6 billion that was supposed to go to the programme. The funds also came late or six years after the programme was established in 1996.

It also said the Department of Budget and Management did not release the special allotment release order (Saro) for all of the funds appropriated. Some of the Saros that were released were delayed, it said.

Aside from funding aspects, the COA also found that the transfer of the lead role on internal security operations to the military contributed to delays. This was because the approved external defense operations priorities were suspended and reprioritized to address internal security concerns.

The AFP itself was also slow to move. Said the COA: "(It) also failed to address matters within its control and which posed obstacles to the modernization programme."

The AFP also has a complex acquisition structure that did not help speed up the process, it added.

The COA said the resolution of several problems was delayed or not addressed. There was also a lack of personnel dedicated to the administration and management of the programme.

The COA recommended that the AFP lobby the legislature for a successor modernization programme. But the AFP should also put in place adequate measures to fast-track the completion of ongoing modernization projects, the auditors added.

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By Vincent Cabreza in Manila/Philippine Daily Inquirer | Asia News Network

Yahoo News Online

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DND approves 10% of military modernization projects

FORT DEL PILAR, Baguio City—The Department of National Defense has approved about 10 percent of the 138 modernization projects meant to modernize the military to defend the Philippine territories.

Speaking to reporters on the sideline of the alumni homecoming at the Philippine Military Academy, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin expressed optimism the Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization Projects will be approved in its entirety until November.

Among the approved projects were the purchase of force protection equipment like bullet-proof vests and helmets, and ammunition for troops, Gazmin said.

Gazmin said the DND has been checking military equipment made in Italy, South Korea, France and Spain, adding that all transactions would be “government-to-government.”

“Tinitingnan na lahat itong mga makakapag-offer sa atin ng equipment na kailangan natin at kaya nating bayaran (We are looking at all these countries that can offer us the equipment we need at the price we can afford),” Gazmin said.

On top of the list are military equipment needed to secure the country’s borders, he said.

“Tinitingnan natin iyong para ma-address natin iyong issue ng territory natin. Kailangan maguwardiyahan natin iyong ating kapaligiran, iyong ating bakuran, upang sa ganon ay hindi naman tayo nalalapastangan (We are looking for equipment that will our territorial issues. We need to protect our environment, our territory, so we would not be transgressed),” he said.

The Aquino administration has earmarked P70 billion for the AFP modernization projects.

In 1995, the Ramos administration enacted RA 7898 or the AFP Modernization Act, which allocated P330 million worth of upgrades for the military spread in a 15-year period. However, only P33 million of the amount was spent and only for capability upgrade.

“Bago matapos ang panahon ng pangulo maipagmamalaki na natin ang armed forces natin… Siguro hindi na aabutan ng 2016 ito, siguro mga 2013 o 2014 meron na tayong maipagmamalaking sariling atin (Before the term of our president ends, we will have an Armed Forces that we can be proud of. Maybe this won’t even take until 2016. Maybe by 2013 or 2014 we will have something that we can be proud of),” Gazmin told reporters.

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By Frances Mangosing, Katherine Evangelista
INQUIRER.net

4:51 pm | Saturday, February 18th, 2012

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