President Rodrigo Duterte congratulated on Friday evening the Department of National Defense (DND) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for the successful acquisition of more air assets for the country.
“Our efforts to strengthen our military have been vital in ensuring that we are able to fulfill our sworn and shared duty of protecting our sovereignty and safeguarding the welfare of the Filipino people,” Pres. Duterte said in his speech.
The Chief Executive led the inspection at Clark Airbase of the new air assets from Brazil, Poland, US, and Israel. This includes 10 of the 16 Blackhawk Utility Helicopters bought through government-to-government transaction with Poland to be used for humanitarian assistance, disaster response, and other COVID-19 efforts.
The Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Hermes 450 and Hermes 900 came from Israel. Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said these can be used in patrolling the West Philippine Sea and for intelligence surveillance.
A newly refurbished C-130 from the US was also shown to the president, which can be used for territorial defense security, and humanitarian and disaster response operations.
The Super Tuscano units from Brazil which were bought under the AFP Modernization Program can be utilized to boost internal security operations.
The commander-in-chief shared his plan to add more air assets before his term ends which will be “spread along a number of years.”
He also conferred in the same event the order of Lapu-Lapu with the Rank of Kamagi to outstanding officials and enlisted personnel “who took part in restoring peace and order in Sulu” last November 2020.
The President admitted that he has been checking the list of slain uniformed personnel in his briefer and this pushed him to provide modernized assets for the military.
He also promised assistance to families of fallen heroes, assuring that the “administration will remain steadfast in doing our best to ensure, improve the welfare of the families of those who have gone ahead.” – Report from Sweeden Velado-Ramirez
