Since President Rodrigo Duterte took seat at Malacanang, he
has espoused his “independent Foreign Policy” not only in terms of trade, but
also in the field of procuring military equipment for the Armed Forces of the
Philippines.
The Marawi Seige was but an eye opener for the need to have
a modern military, since being the Commander in Chief he has made statements that
can make a conclusion that he is opening the possibility of sourcing the
necessary armaments from other countries- namely from China, Russia, and other
non-traditional military suppliers.
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| DND Secretary Delfin Lorenzana (photo credit to owner) |
And the trend seems to continue, looking past our
traditional military supplier the United States of America.
Department of
National Defense (DND) Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said India has expressed
interest to help in the Philippine military modernization by supplying
equipment.
Lorenzana made the remark when asked if the Philippines and
India have agreed to sign any agreement during last week's 31st ASEAN Summit.
What seems apparent during the meeting with India is the country's desire to supply the Philippines with equipment it needs for the military's modernization program, Lorenzana said.
"Ang gusto nilang pasukan dito, is they want to provide us, to supply us also with equipment kasi they have a very robust defense industry, gumagawa sila dyan ng mga barko, mga tangke, whatever mga bala, in fact in the past we bought yung rounds ng mga artillery sa kanila, so they are capable of doing that and they want to tap into our market kasi alam nila nagmomodernize tayo, marami tayong binibili gusto rin nilang pumasok," the DND chief said.
This is not India's first time to participate in the AFP Modernization Program, as one of India's leading shipyards Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers previously joined the bid to secure an PHP18 billion frigate program but eventually lost to South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries.
"In fact nagparticipate sila sa bidding last time sa frigate (project) kaya lang natalo sila sa pangalawa, they won in the first round pero nung pumunta yung ating mga technical personnel sa India para (i-inspect) yung kanilnag financial capability, they found out they cannot, there were technically, nadisqualify sila so that's why Hyundai won kasi sila yung pangalawa," he added.
Report from PNA
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