The Philippines will no longer buy military helicopters from Russia despite a call by its ambassador to honor the P12.7 billion contract signed by the Duterte administration, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Thursday.
Mr. Marcos said Thursday the country has found an alternative source of military helicopters in the United States, and was negotiating with Russia to get back a portion of the P1.9 billion down payment the Philippines has already made on the deal.
“I think it has already been determined. It was already determined by the previous administration that the deal will not carry through,” Mr. Marcos said.
In July 2022, then Defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana said President Rodrigo Duterte had decided to terminate the
contract for 16 military Mi-17 heavy-lift helicopters over the possible impact of sanctions imposed on Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian embassy in Manila on Wednesday said it is using the P1.9 billion deposited by the Philippines in January 2022 to start the assembly of the helicopters, and urged Manila to honor the contract.
In an interview at his residence in Makati City on Wednesday, Russian Ambassador Marat Pavlov said the Philippines has yet to formally communicate its decision to terminate the P12.7 billion contract signed during the Duterte administration to purchase 16 Mi-17 helicopters, with an additional unit to be included at no extra cost.
“I’d like to reaffirm that the Russian side is continuing to fulfill all the obligations regarding this contract and we consider it valid until now,” Pavlov told reporters. “The down payment was made for the start of the assembly operation, so we continue to assemble. Because we received the amount of the money therefore (we’re) fulfilling all the contractual obligations.
“We are ready to fulfill all our obligations as a reliable partner of the Philippine side in the field of technical and military cooperation and we consider that it will also be done by the Philippines,” he said.
He said one unit was in fact ready to be delivered in June 2022.
At a September 2022 Senate hearing, Defense Officer-in-Charge and Senior Undersecretary Jose Faustino Jr. admitted that the project “has not been officially canceled” but a contract termination review committee has already been formed to process it.
He said the government is also working to negotiate a refund of the P1.9 billion that was given as advance payment through diplomatic channels.
Pavlov, for his part, said the Russian embassy would wait for an official communication or a diplomatic note but hopes that the new administration could still reconsider based on its “independent foreign policy”.
“Officially speaking, the embassy didn’t receive any official communication through the very known channel, for example the diplomatic note. We didn’t receive any note,” he said. “We are waiting.”
US Ambassador to the Philippines MaryKay Carlson, in a recent roundtable, confirmed that the State Department has asked the US Congress to approve a $100 million (about P5.9 billion) in foreign military financing for the Philippines, which she said could help Manila offset the down payment it made for the purchase of Russian choppers.
In August 2022, Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez said the country is looking at buying Chinook helicopters from the US.
The Department of National Defense (DND) said formal proceedings are underway to terminate the deal.
DND spokesperson Arsenio Andolong said the department has started an exchange of letters and calls with Sovtechnoexport, and they are waiting for the appropriate response.
“The process has begun and both sides are awaiting each other’s response. That is the status for now,” Andolong said.
He declined to give further details, saying this stage of the transaction is sensitive.
Carlson thanked the Philippines for its decision.
“We’re very grateful to the government of the Philippines for making the decision, especially in the wake of Russia’s illegal attack of the unprovoked war in Ukraine, to cancel the helicopter deal,” Carlson said.
