MANILA – A P30-billion loan from Australia for the building of offshore patrol vessels is at risk of being scrapped due to the order of President Rodrigo Duterte to suspend aid from countries that sponsored and backed an inquiry into the Philippine war on drugs, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said Monday.
According to Lorenzana, the defense department is currently in talks with the Australian government for the building of 6 offshore patrol vessels for the Philippine Navy.
The vessels will be built in Cebu, where Australian shipbuilder Austal has a presence. It would benefit many Filipino workers, Lorenzana said.
Lorenzana said he would seek an exemption for the loan should the defense department reach a deal with the Australian government.
“If we give it to them, they will employ more Filipinos. I think this is a very good case [for exemption] to the memo of the president,” he told a Senate budget hearing. (ABS-CBN News)
