Sen. Mark Villar. Senate PRIB file photo / Voltaire F. Domingo
MANILA, Philippines — Senator Mark Villar on Thursday said there is a need for the Philippines to bolster its defense capacity, pointing out that the country should be able to make its own ammunition amid persisting security threats.
“We should be able to make our own ammunition, especially now. I am sure you are familiar. We have security issues,” said Villar during the Senate subcommittee on finance’s hearing on the proposed 2024 budget of the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA).
“Kailangan din na magkaroon tayo ng sariling defense industry to create basic materials to protect our sovereignty,” he added.
(We also need to have our own defense industry to create basic materials to protect our sovereignty.)
In the same hearing, Villar bared that a certain area in Bataan is being eyed as a location for defense industries.
“When I was the secretary of defense, there were bills filed in Congress about transforming the Government Arsenal into a defense industry hub, but nothing happened. It is actually a 280 hectare property and it has the potential to be developed into [that hub],” said BCDA chair Delfin Lorenzana.
Villar then stated that this plan should be expedited, saying that it would be better to build defense industries in the area rather than letting it be idle.
To this, Lorenzana said there were two Korean companies that relocated to this area. One makes M16 while the other makes protective vests for soldiers.
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“They are there now, I don’t know what happened to them, but actually the area is our property. It’s a property of the government,” said Lorenzana.
Later in the hearing, Villar said he is hoping that the country speeds up the creation of its own defense industry, including projects that are related to the development of a defense center in the Philippines.