July 06, 2012, The Philippine Star, Still no to Cha-cha, SKETCHES By Ana Marie Pamintuan,

July 06, 2012, The Philippine Star, Still no to Cha-cha, SKETCHES By Ana Marie Pamintuan,

An administration official told me there’s no hope for Charter change (Cha-cha) under President Aquino.

The official said it’s not for sentimental reasons. Some quarters think P-Noy simply wants to preserve a legacy of his mother, who handpicked those who drafted the post-EDSA I “Freedom Constitution” that was ratified in 1987. Cory Aquino strongly opposed the first Cha-cha initiative during the presidency of her anointed successor, Fidel Ramos.

P-Noy, I was told, also sees the potential usefulness of amending certain economic provisions in the Charter to make the country more attractive for foreign investments. But he thinks there are ways of achieving this objective through administrative acts, legislation, and efficient governance.

The President’s biggest concern over Cha-cha, the official told me, is that having been a congressman and senator, P-Noy is 100 percent certain that lawmakers will push for self-serving political reforms once economic amendments are introduced.

It's a Pandora’s Box that P-Noy wants to keep safely shut. The official told me that any time Cha-cha is mentioned to P-Noy, he tunes out. It’s no, no, no to Cha-cha, the official said.

So the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), including the Air Force which is celebrating its anniversary today, should not hope too much for any change in funding priorities in the annual national appropriation.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, a former defense chief, said a constitutional amendment could pave the way for bigger defense spending.

The Constitution stipulates that the state “shall assign the highest budgetary priority to education...” Enrile thinks this should be subject to change depending on the nation’s needs.

Debt payments in fact have always eaten up the largest chunk of the annual national appropriation. Maybe Budget Secretary Butch Abad can devise a similar creative way of going around the constitutional provision to finance the achievement of the administration’s goal of minimum defense capability.

Other quarters are wondering whether the country needs to spend more for defense rather than education.

As it is, education (and health, for that matter) are still pitifully lacking in funding. So if defense spending will be increased, it will have to be taken from other budgetary items.

There's no way it can be taken from the congressional pork barrel, especially in an election year; lawmakers in fact will want more.

The nation is realistic enough to see that there’s no way we can match the military capability of China. In the past decades our national leaders didn't imagine that this need would ever crop up, so today we are completely unprepared for the challenge to our territorial integrity.

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The national leadership did anticipate that the AFP needed to be modernized after the US bases were shut down in 1991 and 1992 and Uncle Sam drastically cut military assistance to the Philippines.

Bonifacio Global City is the result of that modernization program, with much of the land acquired from the AFP. BGC is modern and prosperous, and several AFP generals built homes worthy of Forbes Park. As for the AFP, the kindest thing that can be said of the program is that the proceeds were not enough for its massive modernization requirements.

The needs of the AFP are basic: aircraft for efficient reconnaissance, patrol boats that don’t run out of fuel, more cargo planes that can be used for relief and rescue in the numerous natural disasters that hit our country every year.

Instead of modernization, the AFP’s hardware seems to dwindle every year. At least it has retired its “tora-tora” aircraft, which figured prominently in several coup attempts against Cory Aquino.

But the situation is still pathetic. In 2007, an Air Force Huey helicopter was downed by a kite in Mactan, Cebu. It was kite-flying time and a nylon cord apparently from a kite was found coiled around the helicopter rotor. Our patrol ships run out of gas when running after poachers. When the Abu Sayyaf raided Dos Palmas in Palawan and sailed back to Basilan with the hostages for four days, the motorized boat went unchallenged. AFP officers told me that the bandits’ boat was faster than any that the military command in Palawan had at the time.

With funding constraints, it may be more realistic for P-Noy's administration to aim for minimum monitoring capability. If we’re claiming territory, we should be able to at least keep an eye on it, so we can make a lot of noise to the world when intruders enter and refuse to leave.

The budget department will have to find sources of funds at least to buy radar equipment so the nation will be capable of monitoring its territorial waters. That’s a lot of water and an extensive coastline, so the investment will still be substantial. But surely we won't need to depend on Uncle Sam to acquire such equipment.

And as far as P-Noy is concerned, that will not need Charter change.