Money from BCDA transactions to help modernize AFP, says official

Part of funds to modernize the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) will come from the lease and joint venture projects of state-owned Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) in Bonifacio Global City and Newport City.   The projected income of BCDA from Global City and Newport City is currently estimated at P30.4 billion in the next 20 years.   On top of the outright sale of real estate in Global City, BCDA’s joint development deals with the private sector would amount to secure fixed payments of P30.416 billion a year from 2012 to 2032, said BCDA president and CEO Arnel Paciano Casanova.   The Armed Forces of the Philippines is assured of 50 percent of net proceeds from non-sale transactions involving military properties and 35 percent of the net proceeds from sale transactions, under  Executive Order 309 and pursuant to Republic Act 7917.   BCDA has entered into joint-venture deals with Ayala Land Inc., Alliance Global Group, and Megaworld Properties Holdings Inc. for the development of Bonifacio Global City and Newport City, since 2002, said Casanova.   With more lease and joint venture deals the BCDA plans to pursue, Casanova said the P30.4 billion in projected revenues may climb higher.   He said BCDA asked President Benigno Aquino III to its disposition plans.   "Of course, we have not factored in the new joint-venture agreements and the sale transactions that will be made in the future that will translate to higher revenues not only for the Armed Forces but for the entire government," Casanova noted.   From May 1993 to February 2012, BCDA generated P52.97 billion from the disposition of military camps in Metro Manila and remitted P33.630 billion to the national treasury from the proceeds of both sale and non-sale transactions, according to the BCDA chief.   He said P21.788 billion of total remittances went to the Armed Forces, including P12.292 billion for the AFP Modernization Program and P9.496 billion for the replication of military facilities.   Last year, BCDA remitted P2.137 billion to Treasury Bureau for the AFP and the government, Casanova noted.   The money for the AFP and 14 other government-agency beneficiaries goes directly to the Treasury Bureau, but Department of Budge and Management does the programming and releases of appropriations to the AFP’s modernization program.   The 14 government agencies include the National Housing Authority, National Home Mortgage Finance Corp. and Home Insurance and Guarantee Corp., Depart of Public Works and Highways, Department of Transportation and Communications, PhilHealth, Department of Science and Technology, Philippine Veterans Affairs Office, National Bureau of Investigation, and Mount Pinatubo Assistance, Rehabilitation and Development Fund.   Also getting their respective allotments from the BCDA remittances are the Philippine National Police, Bureau of Corrections, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Education, Commission on Higher Education, Philippine Economic Zone Authority, Supreme Court, Department of Justice, Court of Appeals, Office of the Ombudsman, Sandiganbayan, and the Department of Labor and Employment. — VS, GMA News