Modernization on track but internal security to remain Army priority in 2016 - Ano

From InterAksyon (Jul 27): Modernization on track but internal security to remain Army priority in 2016 - Ano



Army chief Lt. Gen. Eduardo Ano receives his third start. (Army public affairs office photo)

Even as the Army works towards achieving a credible external defense posture, internal threats such as the New People’s Army and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters will remain its main focus in the near future, the newly installed chief of the service arm, Lieutenant General Eduardo Ano, said Monday.

“The Army’s required capabilities by 2016 are still to be fully capable in Internal Security Operations to address remaining internal threats (alongside a) gradual defense build-up,” he said when asked if the Army can achieve a “minimum credible external defense posture” before President Benigno Aquino III’s term ends next year.

“I can only speak for the Army. Building a credible defense posture is a continuing process that’s why the modernization law is extended up to 2027,” Ano said.

“The Army is on track in its organization, training, equipping, deployment and sustainment of forces as required by the Revised AFP Modernization Program.

Ongoing are programs to maximize the harnessing, synergizing and integrating various capabilities of the Army, that is a joint and combined armed force that can employ land power in multi-dimensional operations,” Ano said.

New Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff General Hernando Irriberi, the former Army chcief, had barely warmed his set when he came under criticism by some lawmakers and defense and security experts for a perceived lack of strategic planning in the face of China’s aggression in the West Philippine Sea, particularly over his controversial recommendation to realign the P6.5-billion budget for an shore-based missile system to the acquisition of helmets and ballistic vests.

Former National Security Adviser Roilo Golez in fact urged the Commission on Appointments not to confirm Irriberi, who he called “unfit (to be) AFP chief.”
However, Irriberi explained that the missile project was not scrapped but had merely been deferred to a later phase of the modernization program that begins in 2018.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/114935/modernization-on-track-but-internal-security-to-remain-army-priority-in-2016---ano