MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine defense department is aiming to spend P58 billion to carry out a program to modernize the military in 2021.
The proposed P58,371,324,000 defense spending will come from various sources, said Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who was sponsoring the Department of National Defense (DND) budget as chair of the Senate Committee on National Defense.
At budget deliberations in the Senate on Friday (Nov. 20), Lacson said at least P8 billion in funds to modernize the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), which had been realigned to COVID-19 response, has been returned to the AFP by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
The amount would be on top of the P25 bil…
Keep on reading: DND plans to spend P58B in 2021 to modernize PH armed forces