PH wants back P2 billion paid for Russian choppers

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. (INQUIRER / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE)

The Department of National Defense (DND) is looking at possible legal options to recover the almost P2 billion down payment it made to Russia, following the termination of the more than P12-billion helicopter purchase deal between the two countries.

According to Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., the issue is still being taken up by the DND’s legal office—more than a year after the transaction to procure MI-17 heavy-lift helicopters for the Philippine Air Force (PAF) was closed in November 2021, and the advance payment of P1.9 billion was made in January 2022.

“We’re studying our legal options. We have made the down payment and it is a legal issue. Our legal [office] is studying the best option for them,” he told reporters at a briefing in Camp Aguinaldo on Thursday.

“That is a purely legal question already … on the fulfillment or nonfulfillment of a contract, so we have to study the best legal option as to the way forward,” he added.

In November 2021, the Philippine government and Russia signed a contract for the purchase of 17 units of Mi-17 helicopters for PAF under the Horizon 2 (set from 2018 to 2022) revitalized Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization Program to the tune of P12.7 billion.

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