Ill-equipped soldiers sent to UN missions — CoA By Chito Lozada 02/14/2011

AFP SUPPLIES AGING, DILAPIDATED EQUIPMENT

Ill-equipped soldiers sent to UN missions — CoA

By Chito Lozada 02/14/2011
Over recent allegations of conversion and diversion of funds that should have been earmarked for the upkeep of Filipino contingents in the different peacekeeping operations of the United Nations (UN) worldwide, a Commission on Audit (CoA) report on the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in 2009 detailed how soldiers on international tours of duty unnecessarily suffer from military anomalies.

The CoA noted that the UN provides full reimbursement of actual expenses incurred for the upkeep of soldiers on peacekeeping missions but the AFP supplies mostly substandard materials if at all for troops assigned abroad.

“The AFP Peacekeeping Operations Center (AFPPKOC) described the major equipment deployed with the contingents as breakdown prone, aging and dilapidated as these were not brand new when issued and deployed,” the CoA said in its report. It noted that either these assets affect unit operational effectiveness or cause embarrassment to the nation and to the UN operations which underscores the AFP’s logistical incapability to support and sustain its contingents and accomplish its mandate abroad.

The AFP body was also concerned that the government will always be losing considerable amount of reimbursement which should have been a major source of funding for AFP peacekeeping operations programs due to the continuous state of low serviceability profile of the assets deployed in UN mission areas, it added..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110214hed1.html