Controversy over PHL Navy's frigates deal due to 'misunderstanding,' says Korean firm chief

The top official of Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) has dismissed the controversy over the Philippine Navy's acquisition of two frigates from the South Korean shipbuilder as a "misunderstanding."

Speaking to reporters from the towering HHI headquarters in downtown Seoul, HHI CEO and President Sam Ka says the more than P15-billion contract for the two light frigates included South Korean firm Hanwha Systems and the Thales Group from The Netherlands as the two contending suppliers for the Combat Management System or the CMS.

Ka gave the interview a few days before the launch of the first completed frigate, under construction in the company shipyard in Ulsan since 2016.

The CMS is a shipwide  computer system that controls sensors, weaponry and communcations in almost all modern warships.

Ka, however, admits that HHi recommended Hanwha Systems over the Thales Group.

“There was misunderstanding, that was correct. I mean the description of the situation because as far as I understand that there were two vendors in the master's list in the CMS system. We have dual vendor. W just recommended Hanwa to the clients in the Philippines side," Ka says.

In December 2017, then-Navy Flag Officer in Command Vice Admiral Ronald Mercado was relieved from his post by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana after accusing him of favoring one of the CMS suppliers.

Then-Special Assistant to the President Christopher "Bong" Go was dragged into the controversy for allegedly intervening in the project, triggering a Senate investigation. Go has repeatedly denied the allegations.

Ka, likewise, denies that his company had approached Philippine  government officials in an effort to influence the choice for the CMS.

"We are not so strong, not so much impression, so there we can't have many friends so we can't approach of course your government. I think when you do any kind of business activities we try to follow the official [process], which means it that should have been done so [according] to your acquisitions or modernization [programs]," he says.

The first of the frigates will be commissioned as the BRP Jose Rizal and will be launched from the Hyundai shipyards in Ulsan on Thursday. Its sister ship, the BRP Antonio Luna, will be completed in 2021.  Both ships represent the first variants of the Jose Rizal Class Frigates specifically designed for the Philippine Navy.

"It will be the most powerful and most advanced warship sa arsenal ng Navy and practically the whole Armed Forces," says Philippine Navy chief information officer Captain Jonathan Zata,

The BRP Jose Rizal is scheduled to patrol Philippine waters, particularly the West Philippine Sea, where her size, maneuverability and capabilities will be tested.  Zata said the frigates will have enough sensors to monitor air, sea and even underwater environments.

"[The frigates] would play a critical role in the anti-submarine, anti-air and the anti-surface warfare requirement," Zata says

Frigates are not the only military equipment in the Philippines’ arsenal made in South Korea. 

The latest FA-50 jets that helped defeat ISIS elements in Marawi City are South Korean made, as well as the KM450 troop carriers and several models of squad automatic rifles.

Asked whether South Korean naval technology can stand up to other nation's ships in the region, Ka is confident HHI’s products can hold their own in the high seas. He says the benchmark of the South Korean firm is the technology and naval shipbuilding skill of the US. 

HHI has already completed three missile destroyers for the Republic of Korea Navy and plans to add three more in the next decade. —KBK, GMA News