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The Philippines: an archipelago of 7107 islands in Southeast Asia, in the

Western Pacific ocean. The county is geographically divided by 3 main islands: Luzon,
Visayas and Mindanao. Its capitals Manila while its most populous city is Quezon City.
The Philippines has many problems. One is Pork Barrel Scam/ PDAF ". It's not a
first in history to have corruption scandals involving senators and high ranking
government officials. The Priority Development Assistance Fund or PDAF was to be
used for community projects and etc. Almost 10 billion pesos was defrauded from the
government in relation with the scam. Money that couldve enabled projects for needed
social services. The questions I had now have answers. It's clear that politics in the
Philippines is just good business with much profit. During election they invest millions to
get billions. Taking out PDAF, we rely on the national government to know the needs of
every district and solve them. To safeguard the fund is to tighten rules and regulations
on disbursement and check project cost to avoid overpricing.
Corruption and poverty intertwine. Due to high prices of goods because of
corruption, people suffer from poverty and resort to crimes. In a way, poverty is the root
of all crimes. In the Philippines, squatters are everywhere. Beggars signify our poverty.
Politicians use the poor to make it easy for them to be in government through money.
The best solution is to solve corruption and distribute taxes equally all over the
Philippines not just in Metro Manila. More than half of the taxes of different cities go to
Metro Manila and so a lot of jobs can be found there thus making it overpopulated. If
theres equal distribution, people wouldnt have to go there. People will have jobs and
poverty lessens.

Philippines was never powerful in military might. However in the 60's-80's our
military became adequate because of U.S. help. During those days, our country was
one of the first in Asia to obtain F5 freedom, F8 sabre jet fighters and good naval ships.
When Americans left, our nation was vulnerable to foreign aggression. Purchases on
military hardware were made but not on enough quantity, quality aspect.
At present, Philippines is one of the countries in Asia with the weakest defense.
An example of an antiquated military hardware our country has is the "BRP Rajah
Humabon"; only destroyer of the Philippine Navy. We acquired the ship when the U.S
Navy decommissioned it after World War Two. Until today our Navy performs its duties
using a hundred year old ship with age questionable sea worthiness. A situation which
totally jeopardize our soldiers safety more.
Last November 25 2013 an OV-10 Bronco of the Philippines Air force crashed on
Palawan. The plane served since "Vietnam War Era" and causing death to the pilot and
grief to the family. A nonexistent disaster if the Air force had air worthy aircrafts. The
tension between China and Philippines is escalating in the South Philippine Sea fighting
over Kalayaan Islands. With our state, our nation must speed up modernization.
In comes R.A 7898 or AFP Modernization Act. This states that budget for the
AFP will be 50 billion pesos for 15 years. With this condition, the allocated budget wont
be enough to accommodate yearly needs. The government must also put extra effort on
modernization. They must ratify another law to strengthen the budget allocated for AFP.
Now, the threat China implies requires Visiting Forces Agreement" necessary.
Our purpose to improve our forces isnt to declare war against China but
implement maritime/aerospace sovereign as well as boost up the morale of our troops.

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