EDITORIAL - Corruption crippled our defense

 It is not poverty that is the reason for our being weak militarily. It is corruption in government and the willingness of that government to trade off the country's security, dignity and sovereignty for a few quick bucks.

You may wonder where the corruption is in the procurement of military hardware to shore up our defenses. Here it is. Assume, just for the sake of discussion and easy computation, that the country sets aside a billion pesos for defense.

Now, assume that with a billion pesos, you can buy, say, three F-16 fighter jets. Or, for the same kind of money, you can buy two dozen trainer jets. While defense-wise the choice would be logical and obvious, guess where and how corruption swings the decision into reverse.

Commissions are standard for all sales, whether those who give and get them admit it or not. But no matter how big or small the commission, when you buy an F-16 Falcon, you are sure to get what you pay for.

But when you buy a trainer jet when the purpose of the purchase is defense, not only will you not get what you are paying for, but the commission you get for swinging the deal is corruption of the highest order.

When you get what you pay for, the commission is just what it is, a commission. But when you do not get what you pay for, the commission is an enticement meant to make you overlook the fact that you are making a worthless purchase and think only of what you can get from the deal.

It does not remedy the situation that you intend to refurbish the trainer jet by outfitting it with armaments because fighting is simply not what a trainer jet is designed for. As its name implies, it is for training.

And having two dozen of them only multiplies your problem because now you are saddled with two dozen mistakes. If such deals make anyone happy, it is the trainer jet maker and the corrupt officials who connived to make money at the expense of our country.

If only three honest-to-goodness fighter jets are all that we can afford, that would still be a far better deal for the country than two dozen trainer jets that are of absolutely no use in our defense or as a deterrence, especially now that we have a crisis with our neighbors.