Senate to hike budget for DND’s air defense —Zubiri

The Senate will give a “considerable” increase to the Department of National Defense’s 2024 budget to upgrade the country’s air defense, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said Monday.

The Senate chief made the statement at the Senate plenary deliberations on DND’s P233.272 billion proposed budget for 2024 when Senate Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros inquired about the funding for the country’s missile units and effective drone units.

“For the record, the Senate is going to increase the budget of the DND particularly on that issue on air defense. Di ko lang babanggitin magkano, pero considerable,” Zubiri said.

“It would be a Senate initiative and I'm sure the Defense chief will be happy, including [Armed Forces of the Philippines chief] Gen. [Romeo] Brawner, including the men and women of the Armed services,” he added.

The senators will discuss the specifics of the DND’s plans to improve the country’s defense capability in an executive session.

“We just want to give them the impression na kung gusto niyong pumasok dito sa amin, dapat magdadalawang isip kayo, kahit na malaki kayong bansa, maliit lang kami, pero meron din kami capability na hindi niyo alam,” Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, sponsor of the DND’s budget, said.

Meanwhile, Zubiri said he will seek to exempt military equipment procurement from the mandatory posting of biddings on the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGeps) website, a central portal for all government procurements.

“I think the good secretary will agree with me that when it comes to procurement for the armed services, dapat exempt na sila doon sa Philgeps,” Zubiri said.

“Ipo-post ng Philgeps kailangan mo ng armas, alam na ng kalaban, bibili sila ng ganitong armas. Di ba? So hindi tama yun,” he argued.

This proposal would also enable the DND to acquire weapons that are not “necessarily the cheapest but the most effective and efficient for our situation in an archipelagic setup.”

According to Zubiri, he already spoke with Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman and the latter suggested putting a special provision in the 2024 General Appropriations Bill.

“So I have appealed to Senator Angara, our chairperson that will put the special provision because we need it. We know what's going on around our territorial seas and skies. So kailangan talaga nilang bumili kaagad. Kailangan nilang bumili, they need the ships not tomorrow, but they needed it yesterday. So we're going to support them with a special provision with the help of my dear colleagues, particularly in the Armed Services. And if we have the support of the minority that will be wonderful,” Zubiri said.—LDF, GMA Integrated News