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?Pitiful? is how Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales described the current state of the Philippine Air Force's aircraft.
?Nothing to be proud of,? Gonzales said during a visit in Zamboanga City Friday. He was specifically responding to reports that the PAF regularly salvages parts from old aircraft to make other planes fly.
He recounted a first-hand experience with PAF personnel remedying an aircraft problem by replacing worn out parts with those taken from another aircraft.
?I have been using Philippine Air Force planes and I have encountered an incident, when we once landed in Cebu but we could take off. The pilots advised me to wait for about 30 minutes because they needed to get some parts from another aircraft so we could fly again. That's really pitiful,? he said.
Gonzales said, however, that the ingenuity of the PAF personnel and their ability to live with what they have so that the military's aircraft could fly again was truly admirable.
"But you should see their ability to make do with what they have," he said.
Gonzales said even though he knew how sorry the state of the PAF's airassets is, which could be attested to by the crash of a Nomad B18 in Cotabato City last month, there would be no immediate acquisitions of new aircraft.
With only about five months left for him as defense secretary, Gonzales said what he has been doing is to "lay the groundwork for modernization" of the PAF.
Lt. Col. Gerardo Zamudio, PAF spokesperson, said they were happy because government officials, particularly Gonzales, have finally taken notice of the state of their air assets.
He said in the 1960s and the 1970s the PAF was the pride of Asia, but those days are gone.
Zamudio said these days, PAF maintenance personnel and pilots have to make do with what they have just to make aircraft fly.
"It is not chop-chop. We call it cannibalization process and it's legal. Its main purpose is to maximize the worthiness of an aircraft component with the end view of saving government money and to maintain the air responsiveness of the Air Force," he said. INQUIRER
