MANILA: President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. confirmed on Thursday that the Philippines had scrapped its deal with Russia for 16 military heavy-lift helicopters and said his administration has secured alternative supply from the US.
The agreement to buy 16 Mi-17 helicopters was signed by former President Rodrigo Duterte last year. Before the end of his term in June, Duterte canceled the contract over concerns of possible Western sanctions following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Philippine Department of National Defense announced in August it was formalizing termination of the deal, which had been worth about 12.7 billion pesos ($215 million).
“It was already determined by the previous administration that that deal will not carry through, will not go on,” Marcos told reporters during an interview at the Manila Hotel.
“The deal with Russia was for some heavy-lift helicopters, and now we have secured an alternative supply from the United States.”
He said the aircraft secured from Washington would be manufactured in Poland.
Marcos’ remarks came after Russia’s Ambassador to the Philippines Marat Pavlov said Manila should honor the helicopter deal, which was a “very important issue” to Philippine-Russian relations.
“We are ready to fulfill all our obligations as a reliable partner with the Filipino side in the field of technical and military cooperation, and we consider that it will also be done by the Philippines,” Pavlov told reporters on Wednesday night.
He said Moscow has yet to receive an official notification from Manila of its decision to scrap the deal.
The Philippine Department of National Defense, however, said it was in touch with Russian aircraft manufacturer Sovtechnoexport over the deal termination.
“This is part of the termination process,” DND spokesperson Arsenio Andolong told reporters.
The Southeast Asian country is in the process of modernizing its outdated military hardware after Duterte approved in June 2018 a five-year plan to spend 300 billion pesos to upgrade the military.
