This is in response to “That sinking feeling: The story behind Navy chief’s sudden fall” (12/28/18) by Nikko Dizon regarding the alleged anomalies of the frigate acquisition project of the Philippine Navy.
I have been following this issue with great interest since I am really alarmed with how powerless we are in international disputes. We need warships to give us a certain measure of confidence in dealing with other countries that wish to intrude on our sovereignty. As a concerned citizen, my view on this is simple. Let me throw out a few questions which have been bugging me to start the discussion. Why are some people so hellbent on insisting that a certain brand be used for the so-called combat management system for the warships we want to buy? As I understood it, isn’t this against our procurement law?
To add to all these, it seems to me that the words used in the arguments are mere “copy-paste” of each other, from news sources, blogsites, to statements of politicians. I am not one to buy
into conspiracy theories, but the similarities are really obvious. Is this nothing more than an elaborate PR operation or “operation giba”? It makes me wonder who would benefit the most should the project fail. I hope that the people behind all of these realize what they are doing.
They are endangering the security of the Filipino people by blocking a very important modernization project. I can’t wait for the Senate investigation to start so we can finally shed light on the matter.
NONIE ARASA, aarasain@protonmail.com