Philippine president vows to rebuild air force by 2016 from Fighter jets to Flight Simulators

Air Defense Radar System 3D. Photo Radartutorial .eu

Philippine President Benigno Aquino vowed on Monday to acquire fighter jets, air defense radar and other equipment within three years to bolster the country's weak air force, amid a territorial dispute with China.

"I assure you that before I step down from office, our skies will be guarded by modern air assets," he said in a speech during a visit at an air base in Clark, north of Manila. The speech was broadcast live on radio and television.

Among these are :

1. Lead-in fighters
2. Long-range patrol aircraft
3. Close-air-support aircraft
4. Transport planes
5. Attack- and multi-use helicopters
6. Air defense radar
7. Flight simulators

He gave no details of the aircraft and equipment, or the terms for their acquisition.

In January an Aquino spokesman announced the government would buy 12 South Korean FA-50 fighter jets to be used for "training, interdiction and disaster response".

The Philippines, a former US colony, retired the last of its US-designed F-5 fighters in 2005 and lacks air defense.

Aquino, whose-six-year term ends in mid-2016, has set about modernizing the military in his first three years in office as tensions rise with China over overlapping territorial claims to islands and waters in the South China Sea.

The main focus was initially the navy with the acquisition of two Hamilton-class cutters decommissioned by the US Coast Guard.

The first of the two refurbished vessels became the Philippine Navy's flagship in 2011, replacing a warship initially built for the US Navy in World War II.

The second cutter is set to arrive in the Philippines later this year.

Aquino said Monday he was committed to reversing the under-spending on military capability that he said had characterized the Philippines since the early 1990s.

"Over the past decades the air force had its wings broken and we relied on old and rickety planes and equipment," he said.

Parliament has since authorized the defense department to spend 75 billion pesos ($1.7 billion) on modernizing the military over the next five years, Aquino added.

This is on top the more than 19 billion pesos that it had spent over the past three years for this purpose.

Between 1992 and 2010, the Philippines had spent just 33 billion pesos for military modernization, Aquino said.

Fox News

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Philippines Central Bank: Liquidity widens 16.3% to ₱5.3Trillion in May 2013

Liquidity or money circulating in the financial system expanded by 16.3 percent to ₱5.3 trillion in May from ₱4.6 trillion, fueled largely by domestic lending activities by banks, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported Friday.

"This growth was faster relative to the 13.3-percent expansion recorded in the previous month," the central bank noted. Money supply reached $5.188 trillion in April from $4.6 trillion year-on-year.

"The continued expansion in domestic liquidity during the month indicates sufficient liquidity to sustain the economy's growth momentum," Bangko Sentral said.

Net domestic assets increased by 28.2 percent in May from 19.4 percent in April, largely on credits to the private sector that reflected the robust lending activity of commercial banks.

Claims on the public sector grew by 8.3 percent in May after rising by 12 percent in April, reflecting an increase in credits to the national government.

Net domestic assets refers to a country's commercial bank and central bank lending to private or government borrowers.

Net foreign assets, however, slowed down to 0.9 percent in May from 2.9 percent in April. Bangko Sentral's position on this account rose by 4.4 percent in the same comparable period, helped overseas Filipinos' remittances and business process outsourcing receipts.

According to Bangko Sentral, net foreign assets of banks declined with a corresponding increase in foreign liabilities that reflect deposits by foreign banks with other banks while their foreign assets continued to decrease as their loan receivables from and deposits with foreign banks declined.

Bangko Sentral said it is monitoring monetary conditions to ensure that liquidity levels support economic activity without stoking too much of inflation.  

Yahoo News / GMA News

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