In an interview with The Star, Defense
Assistant Secretary Patrick Velez said that Philippines security officials
decided to separately buy the ammunition from the frigate acquisition
project, mentioning international arms
restriction.
He said that there will be two projects
as the two projects at a time cannot be combined because the ammunition alone
requires about P2.5 billion funds. He also added that they could not award the
project to the manufacturers who do not provide missiles.
The frigate acquisition project had an approved
budget of P18 billion, while the ship’s armaments had P2.5 billion. This
calculation was made before the project was divided into two. After it was
divided into two lots, the budget for the two ships only cost P15.5 billion.
The frigate acquisition project is one of the biggest project of the Armed Forces Modernization
Program.
The defense department might reflect to the
discussed procurement for the ammunition ensuring that the armaments are well-matched
with the ships to be acquired.
A total of six companies around the
world are qualified to submit bids for this project and those companies are
Navantia Sepi (RTR Ventures) of Spain,. and Hyundai Heavy Industries, Inc.;
Indian firm Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd. South Korean firms
STX Offshore & Shipbuilding, French company STX France SA and Daewoo
Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. Ltd.
The ships will be used to increase the
Philippines’ security presence in the West Philippine Sea and respond to
calamities.
