Congress hikes AFP modernization budget amid rumors of unrest

MANILA, Philippines — Congress has earmarked and increased by P6 billion the budget for the Armed Forces of the Philippines modernization program or AFPMP for this year, an administration congressman said yesterday.

“In all, there’s P45 billion for the AFPMP in the 2023 national budget – P27.5 billion in programmed appropriations plus P17.5 billion in unprogrammed appropriations,” Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel disclosed.

“The P45 billion is P6 billion higher than the P39 billion in programmed and unprogrammed appropriations for the AFPMP in 2022,” he said, noting that the Department of Budget and Management had originally sought only P40 billion for this year.

“We are confident the government will find the money needed to finance this year’s unprogrammed appropriations for the AFPMP,” Pimentel said.

While programmed appropriations have ready funding sources, unprogrammed ones provide standby authority for the Department of National Defense (DND) to sign more contracts for modernization projects, depending on available government funds, including loans.

“We are forcefully supporting the AFPMP not only because the law requires us to, but also to counteract the persistent swarming of Chinese vessels around Pag-asa Island,” Pimentel said.

Pag-asa is the largest Philippine-occupied landmass at the northeastern section of the disputed Spratly Islands.

Pimentel is former chairperson of the House strategic intelligence committee and a strong backer of the Visiting Forces Agreement between the Philippines and the US.

He is also author of House Bill 1782, which seeks to appropriate P5 billion for the installation of new naval forward operating bases to secure the West Philippine Sea’s gas and oil deposits “for the enjoyment of future generations of Filipinos.”

Last month, Pimentel also introduced HB 6228, which seeks to declare Pag-asa as a leisure fishing tourism site to encourage the installation of additional Philippine structures on the 37.2-hectare island.

From December 2021 to June 2022, or in the last seven months of former president Rodrigo Duterte’s administration, the DND signed P109 billion worth of acquisition contracts for the AFPMP, including:

• P28 billion for two anti-ship, anti-submarine, and anti-aircraft corvettes from South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd.;

• P18.9 billion for three shore-based supersonic ramjet missile batteries from India’s BrahMos Aerospace;

• P32 billion for 32 Black Hawk choppers from Poland’s PZL Mielec; and

• P30 billion for six long-range offshore patrol vessels, also from Hyundai.

Just the other weekend, rumors of a destabilization plot in the military spread following a sudden change of command in the AFP.