We can build our own ‘paltik’ Navy!

Our Philippine STAR editorial last Tuesday entitled "A Navy without ships" was a great one because it pointed out once more the state of the Philippine Navy... as we have joked so often that we have an Air Force that’s all air and a Navy without ships. As the editorial said, "The Navy fleet is so inadequate that even Abu Sayyaf kidnappers have more powerful engines on their speedboats. Most poachers, pirates, smugglers, drug dealers and other marauders in Philippine territorial waters in fact have more powerful vessels — and all the fuel they need — compared with the Philippine Navy."

As we’ve written time and time again, the answer is self-reliance. If we don’t have enough arms, Filipinos can manufacture firearms like what they still do, making paltik guns in Danao City, 30 kilometers north of Cebu City. You may scoff at the Danao-made paltik that you saw a decade ago, but you’d fall off your chair if you saw a paltik firearm today; you couldn’t tell the difference between the Danao-made gun and the real thing!

Twenty years or so ago, I watched the Lee Marvin movie Point Blank where he used a caliber .357 Magnum revolver and a friend of mine asked me if I wanted one like that made in Danao. For a mere P600, I ordered one and it arrived a week later, looking exactly like what actor Lee Marvin used in the movie. Of course, when I fired it, it couldn’t hit the side of a barn, but hey, that was a long time ago! The new guns they make in Danao are as accurate as the real thing. That’s what is known as Filipino craftsmanship! To think, most of these guns are still made underground!

So back to the discussion on the Philippine Navy. If only you folk would visit the FBMA Marine Inc. shipyard in Balamban on the west coast of Cebu, you will see that today, it has a contract to build a Lockheed Martin slice offshore crewboat at a cost of $9 million. This is a highly sophisticated vessel that is capable of "slicing" through huge seven-foot swells in the Gulf of Mexico to bring work crews to the oil rigs there. That means, even in the foulest weather where a helicopter is useless, oil rig workers can still be brought to their work stations. And yes, this vessel is being built right here in Cebu by Filipinos!

Therefore, if FBMA Marine Inc. can build those sophisticated vessels, why not a floating platform or hull for the Philippine Navy for an affordable price? In fact, a couple of years ago, FBMA Marine Inc. finished two 25 M Aircrew vessels for the British Ministry of Defense for use in helicopter sea rescue training.

So if Cebu makes vessels good enough for the British Defense Ministry, I don’t see any reason why the Philippine government cannot give the Philippine Navy ships that can be manufactured locally and provide more jobs to our people. You may call it a paltik Navy if you wish, but at least we’d have a floating Navy in no time at all if only we put our act together!

Perhaps as a reminder to our readers, during World War II, the Galil or the Uzi submachine gun didn’t even exist. These world-famous weapons are now known worldwide because the new State of Israel wasn’t allowed to acquire weapons by the Western powers so it built its own. Just think that there are only six million Israelis as compared to our population. But their self-determination and ingenuity paid off. Now an Uzi or a Galil in your arsenal is a prized and expensive weapon. But to the Israelis, they’re akin to our Danao-made or locally made paltik.

At the end of The STAR editorial, it said, "The Navy has competent officers and personnel, but you need more than competence to build a credible naval force. The Philippine Navy is not equipped for war. It is not even adequately equipped for peacetime functions." How sad, but true. I’m not suggesting that we build warships that we can’t afford... I’m merely saying that if we wanted a Navy that floats, we can build them right here in Cebu! So the question really is: when are we going to stop joking among ourselves that we have a Navy without ships and seriously consider building our own? For starters, the future of the Philippine Navy is in the hands of Congress and the Department of National Defense.

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That stupidity to split Cebu into four separate provinces has been approved in a resolution by the provincial board on an 8-7 split vote. But that resolution isn’t going to make new provinces in Cebu, hence the next battleground will be the House of Representatives where the three proposals to create Cebu del Norte, Occidental Cebu and Cebu del Sur will be sent.

But even before the fireworks were lit in Congress, Cebu south district Rep. Antonio Cuenco openly declared that he would block the three House bills to break up Cebu province from the committee level all the way to the plenary session when they reach the House! That, indeed, is a comforting thought that a level-headed politician like Rep. Tony Cuenco wants Cebu to remain a single province and that’s exactly what many Cebuanos want... to keep Cebu province as one!

Meanwhile, suggestions are coming out that if the proposals to break Cebu into various provinces are already ripe, then it must be said that it is also ripe to create new congressional districts in the places they’re proposing to turn into another province. Yes, I dare say that it is time for all the districts of Cebu to be broken and shared from the present single member of the House to maybe two in each district.

I have studied this alternative which should be cheaper in the long run since having a new district doesn’t entail the building of a new provincial Capitol in Cebu del Norte, another one for Cebu del Sur and another one for Occidental Cebu... although I submit it is bad for us who believe that it would only bloat the pork barrel some more. But I’m sure that this proposal would be objected to by the present members of Congress in their respective areas because by nature, almost all our politicians believe that they are God’s gifts to their respective districts and only they should have any form of control over these districts. Opening up their districts to others would mean political competition or rivalry, which they won’t allow. So let’s go for it!

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns can also be accessed through www.thefreeman.com. He also hosts a weekly talk show, "Straight from the Sky," shown every Monday, at 8 p.m., only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable.