From the Business Mirror (Mar 2): DOJ: Sale of military real estate timely to raise funds for AFP modernization
THE Department of Justice (DOJ) endorsed two bills pending in Congress to raise funds for the modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
In a 10-page legal opinion, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said House Bill (HB) 517, and HB 520 “reaffirms and upholds” the State’s commitment in the 1987 Constitution to protect the people and the State.
The bills seek the creation of the Military Real Estate Development Authority, tasked to sell and manage the commercialization of military real estate through asset-management contracts. The bills also seek to increase revenues “from the sale, lease, joint-venture agreements and other transactions involving military bases and reservations.”
De Lima said the DOJ is “treating the bills as timely response to the deteriorating territorial dispute with the People’s Republic of China.”
The Philippines and China have been embroiled in a territorial dispute over parts of the South China Sea, which President Aquino has been calling as the “West Philippines Seas.”
De Lima, however, suggested the deletion of a provision in HB 520, which mandates the concurrence by concerned major-service commanders of the AFP prior to the sale of portion of military camps and the disposition of their proceeds.
“It is the opinion of this department that the concurrence of the AFP chief of staff and the separate approvals of the secretary of National Defense and the Congressional Oversight Committee are enough to bestow legitimacy and dependability/reliability to the Master Development to be prepared by the BCDA [Bases Conversion Development Authority],” de Lima said.
Meanwhile, the AFP modernization program continues as the Department of National Defense Special Bids and Awards Committee formally opened the bidding for delivery of the three fast-attack crafts before the weekend.
The project has a total worth of P270 million, and it came while the department is working for the acquisition of two brand-new frigates worth more than P18 billion.
Undersecretary Fernando Manalo said the attack craft should include “mission essential equipment, initial logistic support packages and provision for advanced weapon system.”
The acquisition of smaller but more agile and potent vessels for the Navy forms part of the strategy to defend not only the country’s maritime waters, but even coastal areas from bigger but slower vessels such as those from China.
The attack crafts could be deployed in the Ayungin Shoal and near the Bajo de Masinloc, two of the country’s shoals that area currently guarded or being circled around by China.