Gibo wants BCDA scrapped, AFP to keep remaining assets

MANILA, Philippines — Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. is asking Congress to abort efforts to extend the corporate life of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA).

In his speech at the closing ceremony of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Joint Exercise Dagat, Langit at Lupa 09-2025 in Camp Aguinaldo yesterday, he said further moves to convert remaining strategic military assets for civilian use must stop.

“I realized that it’s not only the fact that we earned only P45 billion in 26 years, but it is much more than that. The assets that were taken from the Armed Forces were not chosen to be military assets by accident. These were strategic assets,” he said.

“And taking them away does not only cost us in terms of the lack of funds for modernization, but to replicate these bases is not merely a function of replicating structures that we vacate, but the location of these structures cannot be replicated without spending a whopping amount, trillions of pesos. And some assets cannot be replicated anywhere else in the Philippines,” he explained.

Teodoro said “this firms up my stand that the conversion of bases model is a failure. And I will oppose any further attempts to do so because it is not merely an injustice to the Armed Forces, but an injustice to the Filipino people.”

He said Fort Bonifacio, for example, is very important and “it is not only what you see above the ground, but what people saw decades ago below the ground and built it, but we never used. On bedrock for that matter. Then the replication around prefabricated structures somewhere else in a God-forbidden place.”

“We’ve sacrificed enough already. And our deterrent posture cannot be sacrificed anymore in the attempt to earn cash – cash and not strategic or sustained cash, sustained support,” he stressed.

In an interview with reporters, he said there are current efforts in Congress to extend the corporate life of the BCDA but “we are opposing.”

“Let’s not extend the life, then have CDC (Clark Development Corp.) left. We won’t be able to take that back, but let’s not give any more,” Teodoro continued in Filipino.

Teodoro emphasized the continued expansion of joint activities and partnerships, stating, “I am sure that the exercises will evolve to include other branches of government, not merely our law enforcement authorities, but other agencies, which will be vital to the attainment of a mission.”