Philippines still in market for best arms deal

Philippines still in market for best arms deal

MANILA (AFP): The race to re-arm the Philippines, locked in a
David and Goliath tiff with China in the Spratlys, remains wide
open and Manila will consider even Chinese hardware if the price
is right, Defense Secretary Renato de Villa said.

He told AFP the military's shopping list includes fighter-
interceptors, patrol craft and weapons systems to support them
and would be submitted to congress after the May 8 elections.

Congress last month passed an act allowing the military to
spend up to 50 billion pesos (US$2 billion) within five years to
upgrade one of Asia's most ill-equipped armies, but the
legislators reserved the right to vet the modernization program.

The long-delayed program took on added urgency last month with
Manila's discovery that the Chinese navy had occupied and built
observation posts on the Philippine-claimed Mischief Reef, part
of the Spratlys chain in the South China Sea which is wholly or
partially claimed by six countries.

"We are not going to buy on a cash, up-front basis. We will
always have to look for terms and arrangements that are
advantageous to us," de Villa said.

He said Manila has been offered the Russian MiG-29, Israel's
Kfir, US-made F-16 and the Mirage F1 from France for its fighter
requirements, and that Australian, American, French, Spanish and
Chinese firms have offered patrol craft.

But he emphasized that "we are not on the verge of signing any
deal with anybody," and that the government may only enter into
negotiations with dealers after congress approves the list.

De Villa said "we are not excluding China," and that in
principle, "if the terms and the price and the arrangements are
to our advantage we will" buy from Beijing.

China's North Industries Corp. displayed anti-tank weapons and
small arms at a defense exhibit here last week, while the Moscow
Aircraft Production Organization (MAPO) took an awed Filipino air
force pilot for a ride in one of its two MiG-29 Fulcrums on
display.

Dispute

De Villa, who refused to discuss the Mischief Reef dispute,
described the planned acquisitions as "a modest upgrade" to be
pursued over 15 years and which may "go beyond" if the economy
took off.

Manila now has 11 aging, US-made F-5 fighters including two
with combat capability, and 33 patrol boats.

"Our program is designed purely for self-defense and our
program does not even envision the development of a blue-water
navy," he said, adding that the new patrol craft would enable the
Navy "to defend our territorial waters."

Manila claims 53 islands and atolls in the Spratlys, saying
these fall within its 200-mile exclusive economic zone. The
archipelago is claimed in whole by China, Taiwan and Vietnam and
in part by Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines.

De Villa said that China, which has announced a 14 percent
increase in defense spending, now has "the capability to project"
its forces forward beyond its territory, but that it was too
early to say "what will be the emphasis in their military
spending in the years to come."