Philippines soliciting offers as it plans to buy 40 fighter jets to boost defense
THE PHILIPPINES has started soliciting offers as it plans to buy 40 new multi-role fighter aircraft to boost its territorial defense, according to its Defense chief.
Bidders should propose a financing package where payment can be spread out, Defense Secretary Gilberto Eduardo C. Teodoro, Jr. told a budget hearing at the House of Representatives on Thursday.
He did not specify which models the Philippines was seeking to buy, or who the potential bidders are.
The timeframe for the procurement was also not immediately t, though he said the government is looking to buy it “as soon as possible.”
The military is allotting as much as P400 billion for the acquisition of the military jets, Mr. Teodoro told reporters after the budget hearing.
The Philippines, a defense ally of former colonial power the United States, is seeking to modernize and beef up its military inventory, and its air force has few fighter jets.
Mr. Teodoro has said the country needed “faster and more lethal” multirole jet fighters on top of its South Korean FA-50s.
The government is looking at reasonable financing schemes to fund its modernization program, including tapping syndicated loans from private lenders, he added.
“My instruction is to divide it into at least 60% of the useful life of the asset,” he told congressmen. “The financing should be that long to make it more digestible for the economy.”
“The decided acquisitions shall be for capabilities that can make a real difference,” Mr. Teodoro said. “For multi-role fighters, we believe one dozen will not make any difference at all.”
President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. has approved “Re-Horizon 3,” an acquisition plan for new military weaponry and equipment worth P1.89 trillion ($33.6 billion) to boost its defense.
Philippine lawmakers have pushed higher budgets for defense agencies amid rising sea tensions with China.
Also on Thursday, the Chinese Embassy in Manila said it had filed a diplomatic protest with the Japanese Embassy in the Southeast Asian country concerning “irresponsible” remarks its ambassador made regarding Sabina Shoal in the South China Sea.
In a statement, the Chinese embassy said the comments displayed “ignorance of the facts and contained unwarranted accusations against China.”
Japan’s ambassador on Monday tweeted a video of a Chinese Coast Guard vessel under the words “another unacceptable development around Sabina Shoal.”
The Philippines has accused China of dumping dead corals at Sabina Shoal, another feature in the South China Sea that both claim, to alter its elevation so it could reclaim the area.
Both countries have been trading blame over collisions near the shoal, which has been a staging ground for Philippine resupply missions to Second Thomas Shoal. Both shoals are within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
TREATY REVIEW
On Sunday, Manila’s South China Sea task force accused Chinese vessels near Sabina Shoal of ramming and using water cannons against a Philippine fishery vessel transporting food, fuel and medicine for Filipino fishermen.
The Chinese Coast guard said the Philippine vessel “ignored repeated serious warnings and deliberately approached and rammed” China’s law enforcement boat, resulting in a collision.
China claims sovereignty over nearly all of the South China Sea, including areas claimed by Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. Beijing has deployed an armada of vessels to protect its claims.
A United Nations-backed tribunal based in the Hague in 2016 voided Beijing’s expansive claim for being illegal. China has ignored the ruling.
On Wednesday, the Philippines’ National Maritime Council said there’s a need to update the Manila’s Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) with Washington, citing the changing geopolitical landscape.
“Maybe it’s high time now to make the review,” council spokesman Alexander S. Lopez, Jr. told reporters, noting that the treaty should be “relevant to new security challenges.” —