Duterte transfers state-run aerospace firm to DND

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. ALFRED FRIAS/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the transfer of the Philippine Aerospace Development Corporation (PADC) from the Department of Transportation (DoTr) to the Department of National Defense (DND).

By authority of the President, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea signed Executive Order No. 78 on March 15, giving the Defense department full control of the government-owned and -controlled corporation (GOCC). A copy of the order was shared to the media on Thursday.

Established in 1973, PADC is tasked to maximize the national utility of the aviation and aerospace industry, and is empowered to engage in the design, manufacture and sale of all forms of aircraft and aerospace devices, equipment or contraptions, and to develop local capabilities in the maintenance, repair and modification of aviation equipment.

In issuing the order, Duterte cited the “need to address emerging internal and external threats, achieve self-reliance as regards defense equipment, and promote the transfer of technology from neighboring countries.”

In December 2017, the government eyed the abolition of the state-run aerospace firm for failing to fulfill its mandate of designing and producing airplanes in its more than four decades of existence.

The following year, the DoTr and DND signed a memorandum of understanding for the transfer of the PADC. /cbb

READ: State-run aerospace firm to be abolished for not making a single plane for 45 years