Budget for choppers should be transferred to COVID-19 response – ICHRP

MANILA, Philippines – The government’s budget for buying attack helicopters for the Philippine Air Force (PAF) should instead be allocated to COVID-19 response projects like social aid provision, the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) said on Monday.

The group insisted that the government should not push too much for the acquisition of helicopters, especially since Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana himself had already said that it would be too expensive.

The ICHRP US spokesperson, Drew Elizarde-Miller, cited a study from research organization Ibon Foundation, saying that there were six million Filipinos who had not received aid under the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) — although the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) claimed that 17 million out of the 18 million recipients had already been served.

“If the Philippine government does not have the money for the proposed deal, it is better to forego the arms sale. The Philippine government can instead direct the funds towards COVID-19 relief,” Miller said in a statement.

Recently, Lorenzana admitted that the attack helicopters offered by the United States were beyond the allocated budget, forcing the military to look at other options.  However, opposition personalities and several groups, including the ICHRP, insisted that the government should forego it totally.

Lorenzana said that, while the activists were right in saying that the funds should be allocated to the people, the search for helicopters could not be helped because leftists and communists were still waging war — forcing the Armed Forces of the Philippines to its equipment updated.

Miller said that such remarks evade questions on where funding for the COVID-19 response should be sourced — with President Rodrigo Duterte repeatedly admitting that that government was running out of funds, which may force the government to sell some of its assets.

After a lockdown was declared due to the pandemic, work, except for essential frontline services, was suspended.  This left people who rely on daily earnings and those whose jobs cannot adjust to a work-from-home setup without any income.

“The Philippine government does have money and resources, but the Duterte Administration prioritizes war spending and infrastructure building that profits rich bureaucrats and foreign corporations,” Miller said.

“Duterte’s 2020 budget saw increases in defense and infrastructure spending and a decrease in health, agriculture, and social welfare. Meanwhile, the administration has grown the trillions of dollars of debt owed to the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank, Japan, and China and the United States among others,” he said.

/atm