P25 B for defense in 2016 - Gov’t proposes
The national government is proposing to spend a record P25 billion next year to purchase frigates, surveillance planes and radars to improve surveillance and detection in the disputed West Philippine Sea, officials said yesterday.
The funds to modernize the military are part of President Aquino’s P3-trillion budget bill in 2016, his last year in office.
The budget proposal is 15.1 percent more than the current appropriation of P2.606 trillion, according to Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, adding the about 80 percent of the proposed government spending “will be eaten up by the forward estimates or the cost of ongoing programs and projects.”
“In 2016, our proposal to Congress is P25 billion for the modernization program,” Abad told Reuters, saying this would be the highest-ever spending for military modernization in two decades.
Abad said the government’s proposed budget, including the defense spending plan, would be submitted to Congress next week after Aquino delivers his last State of the Nation Address on July 27.
A senior military general, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the press, told Reuters the funds would be used to acquire two frigates, two twin-engine long range patrol aircraft and three aerial surveillance radars.
The rest of the money would be for annual amortization of 12 FA-50 light fighters ordered from South Korea. Two planes are due for delivery this December.
‘China may get involved in polls’
Meanwhile, a former congressman said China may try to influence the outcome of the 2016 elections by financially supporting a presidential candidate.
“With the dispute in the West Philippine Sea or South China Sea heating up, it is not a remote possibility that China would support a sympathetic presidential candidate in next year’s elections,” former Parañaque congressman Roilo Golez told a news forum yesterday. “They are doing it in the United States. They can do it here.”
He said China could course its financial support to a favored candidate through its companies operating here or through local businessmen.
Another forum guest, Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat, said it is possible that foreign interests would try to influence the outcome of next year’s elections.
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