MANILA, July 5 (Reuters) – The Philippines will spend about 7 billion pesos ($150 million) on aircraft and surveillance systems to guard the sprawling archipelago and help fight Muslim separatists and Maoist rebels, a senior general said on Monday.
Lieutenant-General Oscar Rabena said the airforce would get 15 combat utility and night-capable helicopters, 10 refurbished UH-1H helicopters, a long-range maritime patrol plane, a refurbished C-130 transport, basic trainer jets and long-range radar systems.
“We have the plans in place for transition from internal security to territorial defence,” Rabena told reporters at Villamor Air Base, where a ceremony was held for the 63rd anniversary of the Philippine Air Force.
He said eight combat utility helicopters from Polish company PZL Swidnik, a unit of Anglo-Italian helicopter company Agusta Westland, would be delivered next year.
For more than 40 years, the Philippines’ 130,000-member army has been fighting Muslim separatists seeking a homeland in the south of the mainly Catholic state and Maoist-led rebels waging a protracted war to overthrow a democratically-elected government.
At the ceremony, President Benigno Aquino III, the military’s commander-in-chief, reiterated his commitment to provide the troops, weapons and equipment needed to end insurgencies and protect the country’s territorial integrity. [ID:nSGE66109K]
“I will not make false promises to you or tell you things simply for the sake of making positive headlines,” Aquino said, adding a secure and stable country was needed to attract investment that could create jobs.
“That’s why they’re called investments,” Aquino later told reporters of the new equipment, adding the defence department was studying schemes to raise funds outside the annual budget.
“There are creative schemes that will not make the government lose its assets but will be in a position, like a lease, that we can enter into and then fund what we need.”
Defence Secretary Voltaire Gazmin told Reuters he had asked the military to make an inventory of available assets, including land that could be leased on a long-term to property developers.
“We have many camps within the capital region that can be leased for a minimum of 50 years. These are prime property that can generate billions of pesos and finance our modernisation programme.” (Reporting by Manny Mogato; Editing by John Mair and Ron Popeski)
Tough road ahead for Nepal
Kathmandu, May 29 — Nepal heaved a sigh of relief at 1:25 am on Saturday when the country’s leaders temporarily buried their differences and amended the interim constitution to give a one year breather to the constituent assembly. The extension prevented a constitutional crisis and gave lawmakers 12 more months to prepare the new constitution.
But the road ahead for the Himalayan nation is tough and fraught with problems. Formation of the next government as part of the deal reached on Friday night would be the biggest bone of contention among parties.
There is also doubt on when Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal will resign. Sources say that he will leave his post within five days.
Once that happens there would be hectic lobbying over the next few weeks both within the major parties and among them to grab the prime minister’s post. “As the biggest party, Maoists would want to head the government.
But since UCPN (Maoist) chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ is not acceptable to most parties, his deputy Baburam Bhattarai could get the post,” said political commentator Prashant Jha. Nepali Congress too wants to head the next government and Ram Chandra Poudel and Sher Bahadur Deuba are the front-runners from this camp.
Chairman of CPN (UML) Jhalanath Khanal is also in the reckoning. Once the government is formed, parties would have to get busy with the task of constitution drafting and completing the peace process that started in 2006 at the end of the civil war.
This too won’t be a cakewalk. Integration of nearly 15,000 former rebels into security forces, return of property seized by Maoists and restructuring the para-military structure of the Maoist youth wing would pose problems.
“The peace process must come to an end within the next month or two if we are to have a credible democratic constitution in the truest sense,” said eminent journalist Kanakmani Dixit. Serious differences among the major parties on federalism, restructuring of the country into states, type of government and judiciary can take several months to get addressed.
“These are big problems and if the parties don’t show willingness to address them earnestly, the constitution may not get drafted in the extended period,” said Jha adding that the country can’t afford more delay. Political analysts say that India was “deeply involved” in what transpired on Friday night, but Nepal’s southern neighbour kept its options open.
“India didn’t want extension of the CA tenure as it would give legitimacy to the Maoists. But it was willing to go along with the general mood on extending the tenure,” Jha said.