‘Buy Filipino’ for Philippines defense — Recto

MANILA, Philippines — Increased defense spending should be accompanied by more purchases of locally made defense and police equipment, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said. 

“There should be local dividends from the equipment shopping spree,” Recto said in a statement as the Senate tackled last week the proposed P191.34-billion budget of the Department of National Defense (DND) for next year.

For 2020, the DND will be given P35.7 billion for the Armed Forces modernization program while the Philippine National Police (PNP) will buy 5,000 pieces of short firearms and 7,413 pieces of long firearms.

The senator cited the quality of the products of domestic firearms makers, “which are being bought by other police forces in the ASEAN region.” 

One locally made shotgun, he said, is a bestseller among police departments in some states in the US.

He also cited “one government-owned asset whose potential must be expanded,” referring to the DND-run Government Arsenal in Bataan, as he explained that with only 10 out of 300 hectares of land being used, this can be transformed into an export processing zone.

“The know-how is there, the land is there. It is strategically positioned to become a hub for armaments that can be exported,” Recto said.

He pointed out that tapping local manufacturers in producing entire or even components of vehicles, ships and arms would create local jobs and generate revenues for the government.

“The first thing that must be done is to impose as a policy that, when local technology is available, these equipment shall have a local component,” Recto said.

One disincentive that must be removed, he said, is the government’s wrong implementation of tax laws “because at present, foreign suppliers of equipment can evade local taxes, which local manufacturers cannot.” 

Big-ticket items needed by the Armed Forces can also be supplied by local makers, he added, citing the Philippines’ best shipbuilding skills that produce coastal patrol ships, troop carrier ships, hospital ships and police boats.

“These (ships) can be built in Cebu, where we have a world-class shipbuilding industry. One BFAR (Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources) research vessel was built in Navotas,” he said.

He also said that the government has a lack of floating vessels—which Cebu and other areas where shipbuilders operate, like Navotas and Bataan, can help address.

“If other nations find these Philippine-made ships exceptional, then we should, too,” Recto added.