DND: ISAFP won’t be deactivated

From the Manila Bulletin (Jan 11): DND: ISAFP won’t be deactivated

The Department of National Defense (DND) is planning to ramp up intelligence operations by carving out a new spy organization that is expected to replace the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP), a military official said.

Brigadier General Eduardo Año, ISAFP chief, said the plan is still on the drawing board. He also denied the report that ISAFP will be deactivated in the first quarter of this year.

“Hindi naman ide-deactivate yung ISAFP, hindi totoo ‘yan,” said Año, adding that the defense planning guidance issued by Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin is “to create one big intelligence organization in the future.”

The official further explained that ISAFP will even become a bigger organization but will be given a different name.

“Ang mangyayari dun, mas palalakihin pa and ISAFP, in a different name of course… Instead of downsize, actually, it will be upsized,” Año said.

He added that “the intelligence unit of the AFP will become part of the whole defense department” and that the new spy agency will be likened to that of the United States (US) Defense Intelligence Agency.

“Parang ito yung defense intelligence agency ng ibang country,” the ISAFP chief said.
The new intelligence service will also remain as a military organization, but under the new set up, it will directly report to the Department of National Defense (DND).

Año emphasized that at present, nothing is final as the plan is still a work in progress.

“Pero in the future pa yan, (it’s) still a work in progress. . .   everything is still in the drawing board.”

The official said they have been tasked to conduct a study to be submitted to the secretary for his approval. If approved, the plan can only be implemented in 2015.

http://www.mb.com.ph/dnd-isafp-wont-be-deactivated/