No firm directive yet on what weapons to acquire from specific country - AFP

From the Philippine News Agency (Sep 17): No firm directive yet on what weapons to acquire from specific country - AFP

There is still no specific directive instructing the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to acquire weapons and equipment coming from a particular country.

This was disclosed by AFP public affairs office chief Col. Edgard Arevalo in an interview Friday.

"We are still to receive any specific directive from the Commander-in-Chief (President Rodrigo R. Duterte) and our Defense Secretary (Delfin N. Lorenzana) instructing the AFP to acquire particular weapons and equipment from a particular country," he added in Filipino.

"What the President said during his visit to (250th Presidential Airlift Wing) was he was ordering Secretary Lorenzana (and other military officials) to visit China and Russia and see there what weapons and equipment we can possibly acquire from them," Arevalo further stressed.

Earlier, DND public affairs office chief Arsenio Andolong said the decision to look into China and Russia as possible sources of equipment for the AFP is mandated by law.

Specifically, he was referring to Republic Act 9184 or also known as Government Procurement Reform Act.

"(Looking for new countries to acquire new military equipment) is provided for in Republic Act 9184. The law dictates that we must not limit possible sources of our materiel to only a few countries as this will rob us of the opportunity to acquire what could be the best equipment," Andolong added.

In line with this, technical working groups of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines have been continuously been conducting market research on new hardware and technologies from many countries including Russia and China, he added.

"For the record, we also looked at the offerings from Sweden, Germany and France," he added.

This is in wake of President Rodrigo Duterte's announcement that Russia and China have agreed to provide armaments and other weaponry to the AFP for its counter-insurgency campaign.

"Of course, there are other considerations such as cost, inter-operability with our existing equipment and personnel capacity," Andolong pointed out.

The Philippine has traditionally sourced its military equipment from the US, Israel, South Korea, and Japan, to name a few.

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