Army has P132M worth of old ammo in storage, COA finds

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Army (PA) still has 137,264 rounds of decades-old high explosives valued at P131.77 million which are too old and unstable for use in the field by soldiers and are dangerous to keep, according to the Commission on Audit (COA).

In its 2012 audit report on one of the three service branches of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the COA said that many pieces of the ammunition were released to field units in the 1980s but were turned over only recently to the command’s custody.

Members of the audit team inspected 11 warehouses holding the cache of explosives from a distance and noted that many were contained in open boxes while others were just lying on the floor.

“We were not able to validate the accuracy of the quantity of the reported unserviceable ammunition since we were advised by the PA personnel present that any wrong movement/dropping could trigger an explosion or cause an accident due to the abnormality of their condition,” the COA report said.

It noted that termites had invaded the storage bins for 7.62mm rifle ammunitions, more commonly known as “.30-caliber” based on the Imperial unit equivalent.

It quoted the head of the Army Chief Ordnance and Chemical Service as saying that the protective packages of the ammunition were easily penetrated and infested by termites because these were made of ordinary wood and were placed against a wall.

The termite infestation was discovered only lately because it could not be detected through visual observation, the COA said.

An inventory submitted to the COA by the service command’s Property Office indicated that the ammunition cache included 38,899 rounds of 60mm high explosive lightweight mortar shells; 56,295 rounds of 40mm M406 rifle-grenades; and 31,548 rounds of 81mm M1 muzzle-loaded artillery shells.

The collection included thousands of rounds of 105mm, 81mm and 76mm white phosphorus mortars; tear gas; flares; smoke grenades; fragmentation grenades; and 90mm high explosive antitank rockets.

The COA recommended a speedy evaluation of the old ammunition to determine if these could still be used or should be disposed of in accordance with AFP regulations.

The Army report said there were an additional 89,301 rounds of similar ordnance that had likewise been declared unserviceable but were awaiting assessment as to their value.

The COA also advised service officials to request for funds from the Department of Budget and Management for the construction of better storage facilities to separate unserviceable ammunition from newly purchased ones and avoid further losses in case of an accident.

It also recommended that extensive training be given to Army personnel  in terms of proper handling and disposal of old explosives and ammunition to prevent accidents and a waste of public funds.