AFP modernization gets record-high P50-B allocation in 2025 budget, says solon

AFP)

Surigao del Sur 2nd district Rep. Johnny Pimentel said the modernization program of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) will receive a record-high P50 billion in funding under the proposed P6.352-trillion national budget for 2025.

“The sum of P50 billion in capital outlays has been earmarked to be used exclusively to support the funding requirements of the military’s ongoing modernization projects,” Pimentel said in a statement on Sunday, Aug. 18.

The lawmaker said this amount is P10 billion, or about 25 percent, higher than the P40-billion appropriation for the acquisition and upgrading of military hardware and systems in this year’s national budget.

Pimentel, who is a strong backer of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the Philippines and the United States, says he and his fellow lawmakers will make sure that this proposed subject is realized in the ongoing budget deliberations.

“Congress is absolutely determined to keep up the funding for projects that are meant to build up the military’s national defense capabilities,” he emphasized.

Last April, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) released the fourth milestone payment of P6 billion for the DND’s order of two brand-new, multi-role missile corvettes from South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries. 

Worth a total of P28 billion and due for delivery in 2025 and 2026, the missile corvettes for the Philippine Navy are capable of anti-ship, anti-submarine, and anti-aircraft missions.

In view of strengthening the country’s defense, Pimentel authored House Bill (HB) No. 1782 which seeks to appropriate P5 billion for the installation of new naval forward operating bases.

According to Pimentel, these bases aim to secure the West Philippine Sea’s vast natural gas and oil deposits that have the potential to supply the country’s energy demand in the decades ahead.