By Zaff Solmerin

WITH the recommendation to lease out some of its prime properties in Metro Manila, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is now looking forward to a Pentagon-like Camp Aguinaldo if the plan to transfer the leaderships of the its three major service commands will push through.

“It’s still in the initial stages, under study. But the leadership is very much interested in it,” AFP spokesman Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta Jr. said.

Asked if there was already private consortium that will invest and handle the development for all these developments, Mabanta said he has no knowledge so far on the matter.

“But certainly, billions of pesos will be sourced out from these development proposals,” he said.

Meaning, all troops from the three major service commands would be all transferred to Camp Aguinaldo.

A Pentagon-like Camp Aguinaldo had been a proposal for a long time ago.

The United States’ Pentagon in Virginia is where the chief of staff of its Armed Forces p and all commanders of major service commands are co-located in one headquarters.

The planned leasing is anchored with the objective to hasten the long overdue modernization plan of the military as “a feasible alternate solution for fund sourcing” to buy new military hardware such as transport and combat planes, state-of-the-art vessels, and modern weapons.

As to the mode of leasing these military properties, it is initially proposed that it would be government/AFP-private development partnerships.

At present, the only direct source of AFP funding for its modernization is the Basic Conversion Development Authority (BCDA). The AFP Modernization Act of 1995 has expired last February the Congress has to either re-enact it or craft a new law if the government wants the modernization to continue.

Based on military records, out of the more than P330 billion earmarked for modernization only less than P29 billion has so far spent by the military for its capability upgrade level.

President Benigno Aquino III mentioned in his state of the nation address (SONA) about the proposal to lease out the headquarters of the Philippine Navy located at Roxas Boulevard in Manila including its vast tracks of land located in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City.

Its Naval station in Fort Bonifacio is situated just across the main headquarters of the Philippine Marines.

Apart the Navy, the leaderships of the Army and Air Force will be also transferred to Camp Aguinaldo.

The Navy has more than 22 hectares to lease out, more than 30 hectares in the Air Force, and more than 100 hectares in the Army headquarters.

In the case of the Navy and Marines, Mabanta explained that command’s naval operations would not be affected because it has so many naval stations to develop across the country.

“We’ve two major naval stations which can be developed such as the Sangley Point in Ternate, Cavite, and the one in Subic in Zamblaes,” he said.

The Air Force, likewise, has stations in every international and domestic airport across the country and the Army has a lot of strategic major camps in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.