No to new land deals

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is expanding its presence across the 7,600 islands, islets, atolls, reefs, shoals and rocks as it continues strategic basing and improved logistics. As the immediate head of the AFP, Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro Jr. announced the Philippine government’s strategic basing program to strengthen the military response capability and logistics support to effectively contain and quickly address threats across our country’s archipelagic territories.

Teodoro echoed the message of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) at the joint opening of the second regular session of the 20th Congress last Monday. The defense secretary took off from the most applauded part of the President’s State of the Nation Address (SONA).

In the last two years of this administration, Teodoro vowed to support PBBM’s commitment of “increased footprints” of the AFP by reconfiguring military presence where threat groups try to sow instability and cut into our sovereign borders.

“We need to establish a presence across the country’s more than 7,600 islands,” the defense secretary asserted with conviction.

Speaking at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum last Wednesday, Teodoro reiterated the country’s national security policy as enunciated anew by PBBM in the latter’s penultimate SONA. As the commander-in-chief of the AFP, Teodoro cited, PBBM also sets this direction as the chief foreign policy architect under our country’s 1987 Constitution.

In broad reference to the West Philippine Sea (WPS), PBBM reaffirmed in his SONA the Arbitral Award that invalidated China’s “nine-dash line” maritime claim over almost the entire South China Sea (SCS). “We are respectful, and we are dignified. We are Filipinos, and we do not yield,” PBBM stressed.

This was received with a very loud explosion of applause from his audience at the session hall of the Batasan Pambansa, who included foreign dignitaries aside from lawmakers from both chambers of Congress and other government officials and private individuals. Visibly not among those seated in the audience of the diplomatic corps was ambassador Jing Quan of the People’s Republic of China.

PBBM thanked the military, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), other government agencies, especially the Filipino fisherfolk for protecting and defending the country’s sovereign rights over the WPS. Teodoro acknowledged the President’s steadfast support for the AFP in achieving credible deterrence to better protect and strengthen the defense of our country’s territorial and maritime sovereign rights.

Teodoro underscored the country’s external defense covers not just the WPS but also the country’s eastern shores such as the Philippine Rise, formerly called Benham Rise, facing the Pacific Ocean. With the country’s security environment evolving, threats of foreign origins are no longer confined to external sources such as those in and around the WPS and the Philippine Rise, he warned. Teodoro admitted such external threats seeping insidiously and dangerously into our domestic affairs have been glossed over these past years.

Using the military term “foreign malign influence,” Teodoro cautioned the public against being blinded by those behind the obvious designs in blurring the line between internal security and external defense in the Philippines. FMI is defined as the covert, coercive, subversive or illegal efforts by a foreign government or its proxies to influence another country’s policies, institutions, public opinion or behavior in ways that advance the foreign actor’s interests.

As of yesterday, the AFP reported at least 26 Chinese military ships and coast guard vessels in various areas around the WPS from July 21 to 26. For now, no untoward incident was reported after the most recent case of two Philippine Navy men injured while chasing Chinese militiamen intruding into Ayungin Shoal.

Definitely, Teodoro stressed, funds are needed by the AFP to achieve credible defense posture under its multi-year modernization program. Funding may come from domestic sources such as the national budget each year or loans from international financial institutions. Or military equipment assistance may come from grants and official development assistance (ODA) from allies and donor countries, he added.

Teodoro complained the AFP has been missing a huge chunk of revenue source for its modernization funds from the sale of former military lands. As mandated by Republic Act (RA) 7227 that created the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), the AFP is the designated “trustee” owner and the intended beneficiary of the sale of the lands carved out of former military bases, camps and reservations all over the Philippines.

Thus, Teodoro disclosed the DND and the AFP strongly oppose the pending proposed bill seeking to extend the corporate life of the BCDA for another 20 years. Attached to the Office of the President, the BCDA undertakes the sale of these military bases and reservations to be converted into civilian and commercial use.

The BCDA was signed into law on March 13, 1992 by the late former President Corazon C. Aquino. It was RA 7227 through which the former American military facilities – Clark Airbase in Pampanga and Subic Naval Base in Zambales – were transformed into free port zones and became economic growth hubs in Northern Luzon.

RA 7227 was amended by RA 7917 in 1995 that outlined the specific rules for the distribution and allocation of proceeds from the sale of portions of Metro Manila military camps such as Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City and Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City. The second time it was amended was in 2007 under RA 9400 that explicitly defined tax incentives, clarified the status of freeport zones and standardized financial frameworks for special economic regions.

The BCDA gave birth to several subsidiaries such as Clark Development Corp., Clark International Airport Corp., John Hay Management Corp. (JHMC), among them.

Sadly, however, the BCDA down to its subsidiaries have not remitted the due shares of the AFP, Teodoro lamented.

Thus, Teodoro welcomed PBBM’s directives to suspend indefinitely land conversions involving military reservations and bases until an independent review and audit shall have been done and completed. So no new land deals, for now.