Former Senator Gringo Honasan on Sunday sought to include the acquisition of military hospital ships in the Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization Program .
Also the former chair of the Senate Defense committee, he emphasized that the hospital military ships can be part of the country’s overall disaster readiness – capable of swift mobilization and coastal operations, and can receive patients by air and water. In the last five years alone, Congress has allotted a total of P121 billion to support the military’s modernization projects, including the procurement of new warships, fighter aircraft, helicopter gunships, early warning air surveillance radars, and batteries of shore-based, anti-ship supersonic cruise missiles.