The Department of National Defense (DND) has earmarked a total of P19.3 billion from its current budget to fund the national government's coronavirus disease (COVID-19) response efforts.
This was bared by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Wednesday in a virtual pre-State of the Nation Address (SONA) of the administration's Security, Justice, and Peace Cluster (SJPC) which he leads as chairperson.
The forum was held ahead of President Duterte's fifth SONA on July 27 to present the accomplishments of various government agencies in the past year.
"There is a reprogramming of budget from some projects of the DND towards the COVID campaign… COVID fund," he told reporters during the question and answer (Q&A) portion.
For 2020, the DND has an original budget of P191.7 billion, according to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
He said they have already turned over the reallocated fund to the DBM.
Out of the DND's P19.3-billion reallocated fund, about P9.4 billion was originally intended for the second horizon of the Revised Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization Program (RAFPMP), P9.7 billion came from the capital outlay, while some P125 million came from the DND's maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE).
"Itong mga projects ng modernization na natanggalan ng pera ay naiurong natin sa susunod na mga taon kasi hindi naman sila masyadong kritikal sa ating misyon (The projects in the modernization program that were defunded were moved in the coming years since they are not that critical in our mission)," Lorezana explained.
The RAFPMP aims to modernize the major services of the AFP such as the Philippine Army, Philippine Navy, and Philippine Air Force through three different phases or horizons of asset acquisitions.
The Horizon 2 is scheduled from 2018 to 2022 and was given a budget of P300 billion. It is in this stage where the DND is supposed to buy multi-role combat aircrafts and other advanced weaponry.
The Horizon 1 was implemented from 2013 to 2017 while Horizon 3 will be from 2023 to 2027.
However, during the pre-SONA forum, Lorenzana said they pushed through with the completion of other projects in the Horizon 2 of the RAFPMP which have existing contracts.
It includes the Philippine Army's capability upgrade of its armored vehicles; and the procurement of communication, engineering and force protection equipment; the Philippine Navy's acquisition of anti-submarine helicopters, multi-purpose attack crafts, amphibious assault vehicles, and a frigate; and the Philippine Air Force's obtainment of a command and control aircraft, strategic lift aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, combat utility helicopters, close air support craft, and light transport aircraft.