The Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) denied it owed the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) billions of pesos in unremitted earnings, as AFP chief General Gilbert Gapay stated in a Senate hearing last week.

On Monday, September 7, the BCDA said the supposedly unremitted P13.2 billion mentioned during the Senate hearing was part of the agency’s unutilized remittances still parked with the Bureau of the Treasury, awaiting appropriation.

“There are no unremitted earnings of P13.2 billion. The BCDA has diligently remitted the share of all government agencies, especially the AFP, as mandated by law every year,” the BCDA said in a statement.

The agency said it has sent a letter to the Senate and to Gapay to clarify the matter.

The BCDA said it posted its “highest contributions” totalling P15.16 billion to the AFP in the first 3 years of the Duterte administration. This was higher than the total P13 billion it remitted to the AFP during the entire 6 years of the Aquino administration, the agency said.

The BCDA’s contributions to the AFP during the Duterte administration constitutes 33% of the total contributions it made since 1993, the agency added.

Total remittances to the national government in the first half of the Duterte administration amounted to P16.367 billion – a record high, the BCDA said.

Combined remittances under the Ramos, Estrada, and Arroyo administrations totaled P32.31 billion, while remittances under the Aquino administration reached P14.464 billion, according to the agency.

On Wednesday, September 2, Gapay told lawmakers during his confirmation hearing with the Commission on Appointments (CA) that the AFP “expected billions more” in remittances from the BCDA as a result of the use and sale of former military reservations.

Senator Panfilo Lacson said records showed the BCDA had only so far remitted to the AFP P6.8 billion out of an expected P20 billion for fiscal year 2020.

When Lacson asked whether the BCDA owed the AFP the remaining P13.2 billion, Gapay answered in the affirmative. The senator then told the general to collect the remaining balance from the BCDA.

Senator Risa Hontiveros, who attended Gapay’s CA hearing, afterwards said it was “unacceptable” that the BCDA is only able to remit up to a tenth of the amount the AFP needs for its modernization program.

Gapay earlier said the AFP had P300 billion worth of unfunded projects that included current phases of its modernization program to build a credible defense posture.

The BCDA is one of several funding sources for the AFP modernization program. Gapay said the military expects an estimated P10 billion to P15 billion more in remittances from the BCDA over the next 5 years. – Rappler.com