Senator Ronald Dela Rosa expressed concern over the P10 billion reduction in the Department of National Defense’s (DND) 2025 budget, particularly affecting the Armed Forces’ modernization program.
During Thursday’s budget deliberations, Dela Rosa urged the Department of Budget and Management to allocate additional funds for the DND.
“What can we do to increase the funding for our defense sector, and where can we obtain funds to finally modernize the Armed Forces, especially now that the DND has adopted the comprehensive archipelagic defense concept?” he asked.
He pointed out, “In an eventuality, our immediate reaction is always like this: we condemn in the highest terms this incident, and we have to see to it that we modernize our Philippine Navy. This is the line that we always say as politicians or legislators. And now here come the budget deliberations. We are reducing P10 billion from the budget of the National Defense. There is always a contradiction between what we say and what we do.”
Dela Rosa noted that the original P50 billion proposal from the DND for the Armed Forces modernization program was reduced to P40 billion by the DBM.
Meanwhile, Senate President Francis Escudero stated that the AFP Modernization Program should consider technological advancements in material procurement.
Escudero urged the AFP to account for rapid technological changes, citing drones as an example of modern warfare. He encouraged the AFP to explore newer technological armaments that could be more cost-effective and efficient.
“Every time there is a new Chief of Staff, the components of modernization change…so every administration comes in with a new plan. That is why modernization cannot be planned by just one administration because after five or six years, new technology might emerge. I hope the committee considers this when deciding how to allocate both the additional and original budget of P40 billion,” Escudero said.
He emphasized that the Senate should ensure that the 2025 budget allocation for the AFP modernization program is maximized for upgrading military armaments.
“I agree with the points raised by Senator Bato Dela Rosa but with a caveat: We cannot look at and give funding to AFP modernization with closed eyes because the track record of the Department of National Defense (DND) and the AFP in the past has not always been maintained,” Escudero added.
For instance, he mentioned that three years ago, the AFP purchased P8 billion worth of missiles from India that remain stockpiled in a warehouse today due to a lack of allocated funding for their storage at a base in Zambales.
