LT. General Lauro Catalino de la Cruz, Air Force commander, and Gen. Herbert J. “Hawk” Carlisle, United States Pacific Air Forces commander, met recently to discuss security issues to strengthen the defense partnership of both countries. Col. Miguel Ernesto Okol, Air Force spokesman, however, said he was not privy to the details of the issues taken up by the two officers.
Carlisle also met with Defense Undersecretary Honorio Azcueta; the Armed Forces chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Emmanuel Bautista, and Air Forces officials at Clark Field in Pampanga. “During his visit, General Carlisle met with Lt. Gen. Lauro Catalino de la Cruz, the commanding general of the Philippine Air Force, to discuss areas and topics of mutual interest. Lt. Gen. de la Cruz presented General Carlisle with the Gold Wings Badge, an award bestowed upon Air Force chiefs of partner nations,” a statement from the US Embassy in Manila said.
“These meetings offered an opportunity to exchange views on a broad range of bilateral, regional and global issues, reflecting our common values and interests. General Carlisle also called on US Ambassador Harry K. Thomas Jr. and was briefed by the Embassy Manila staff,” it added, about other meetings attended by Carlisle.
Carlisle also participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, to pay his respects to the Filipino and American service members who lost their lives during World War II, as well as the Clark Veterans Cemetery.
“The visit by General Carlisle demonstrates the strength not only of the partnership and dialogue between the Air Forces of the United States and the Philippines, but also the strong ties between the peoples of our two countries,” the US Embassy said.
Government-to-government deal for fighter jets
THE Department of National Defense (DND) is finalizing a plan to buy lead jet fighters from South Korea in a government-to-government transaction. Defense Assistant Secretary for Acquisition, Installation and Logistics Patrick Velez said the department hopes to finish the contract negotiation by end-February and immediately begin negotiations for the acquisition. “We want to buy a squadron of TA-50 lead jet fighters through a government-to-government contract,” Velez said.
To hasten the acquisition, Velez said the department has sought support from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and other concerned agencies. “We are now cooperating toward that respect because the acquisition plan was already approved last December, the fastest way that we could have done it. We presented it early then they were able to come out with a resolution on the jets last December, which is very fast,” he said.
On Wednesday Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said the department has also been finalizing purchase proposals to complete the 138 defense projects for a “minimum credible defense.” Initially, President Aquino had approved a budget of P75 billion to fund the modernization program of the Armed Forces.
Just recently, the President signed a new Armed Forces Modernization Act that will speed up the implementation of the projects. With the growing regional security problems in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), the government has been slowly shifting its security operations from internal to territorial defense. At the moment, the Air Force does not have a single fighter jet.
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