Basler Turbo USA is offering 2 BT-67 MPA and 2 BT-67 FLIR Gunship for the PAF LRPA Program

Basler Turbo Conversions of Oshkosh, Wisconsin USA is offering two BT-67 Maritime Patrol Aircraft plus two BT-67 FLIR Gunship for the Philippine Air Force s Long Range Patrol Aircraft acquisition program. The four BT-67 aircraft will be capable in conducting aerial maritime patrol over the EEZ, ECS and the Kalayaan Island Group of the Philippines. This offer can be an affordable and a fast implementation solution to the long running PAF LRPA acquisition saga.

Possible MPA configuration

The Basler BT-67 s affordability and capabilities as a Multi Mission Aircraft will enable the Philippines to buy more of the aircraft, or use the savings to buy other needed defense equipment. The BT-67 MPA, with additional sensors as compared to the BT-67 FLIR Gunship, can be a good long range Maritime Patrol and ISR Aircraft platform.

Basler Turbo Conversions has sold more than 63 BT-67 s worldwide so far. The Basler BT-67 has been used by the U.S.A.F. SOF Command, U.S. Department of State and U.S. Forest Service, and is widely used by the Thailand and Colombia Air Forces. Other Air Forces using the Basler BT-67 are that of Mauritania, Mali, El Salvador, and Guatemala. The BT-67 equipped with electronics, sensors and tail/nose booms has been widely used by Scientific, and Geophysical Survey companies. Commercial cargo airlines, some of which also ferry passengers in combi configuration, has attained 98% availability operating in rough areas.

FLIR Gunship

In the Philippine Air Force, the Basler BT-67 MPA and FLIR Gunship versions can supplement their other aircraft in Combat Air Support, Maritime Patrol, Transport and other missions. The Basler BT-67 has been fitted with belly hard points that can carry 11,000+ lbs while wing hard points has been certified for 100 lbs per side on wing tips, and 500 lbs per side on the outer wings. These capabilities open up opportunities for future fittings and certifications for additional sensors, and even weapons systems.

The BT-67's most important advantages are its

1. Capability - 40 troop or 18 (C-47 type) litters capacity; 10,000 lb. payload over 650 nautical miles or 2,600 lb. payload over 1875 nautical miles (with long range tanks); loiter time of over target of 10.3 hours (with 45 minute reserve, using long range tanks); and Cargo Deck of 7 feet width at floor level, 6.5 feet height, 42 feet length for a total 1225 Cubic Feet internal volume.

2. Affordability - With its low acquisition, operating and maintenance costs, coupled to its long service life, as proven in many Air Forces, is the solution to many of the Philippine Air Force's wide spectrum mission requirements.

3. Reliability - The average mission capability rate over the worldwide BT-67 fleet is at over 95% including operations in isolated areas. The U.S. Air Force BT-67 availability rate was 100% during the 3 years that they operated it. BT-67 has 98% availability rate in airliner service.

4. Deliverability - The Basler BT-67 can usually be delivered within 1 year after the contract is signed, and available via U.S. Foreign Military Sales.

5. Maintainability - Basler Turbo has eighteen 40-foot containers of parts, plus a large parts warehouse that are available within 24 hours worldwide via air courier delivery, for the past almost 30 years.

Other Basler BT-67 Advantages are

1. Fully customizable configurations as per client exact requirements.

2. Rough-field STOL in such an aircraft size with low stall speed and low approach speed suitable for Maritime Patrol.

3. Autonomous engine self-start capability for remote areas operations.

4. Industry leading service from Basler with widely-available aviation parts.

5. Easy-access service panels that allows for over-the-wing refueling and repairs eliminating the need for special equipment.

6. Engine-exhaust-vent-over-the-wing design significantly reduce IR signature to ground sensors for lowered MANPADS vulnerability.

7. Basler Turbo Conversions can service the BT-67 wherever with engine overhaul and heavy maintenance shops worldwide.

The BT-67 is fitted with all new two(2) proven reliable Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-67R engines with Hartzell 5-blade aluminum reversing propeller. It has digital avionics with Full IFR Multi Function Displays, GPS, Weather radar, and HF radio, with full spectrum options available. The digital instrument panel and exterior lighting is Night Vision Goggles compatible.

The BT-67 is Stage III quiet, and certified for known ice conditions. The BT-67 also has new De-icing, Air conditioning, Stall Warning, Oxygen supply, Fire monitoring, with the engine nacelles and radome made of composite material.

Both the BT-67 Maritime Patrol version and the BT-67 FLIR Gunship version can do aerial maritime/ground monitoring and patrol, using the FLIR ball sensors that is common to both. The FLIR Gunship carries additional weapons, while the Maritime Patrol version carries additional sensors and electronics. The BT-67 can go out to the extremes of our EEZ, Kalayaan Island Group, and Philippine Rise ECS then loiter for 8 Hours.

The BT-67 FLIR Gunship version configuration is being improved by Basler Turbo with the addition of a Syzygy Weapons Interface equipped with Mission Management Software, Bus Interface to FLIR EO/IR and Rail System, Slight Alignment for use with Gun System and EO/IR, and MA4B 14" NATO Ejector Racks. This will provide more accuracy to the 20mm guns.

For the BT-67 Maritime Patrol version, Basler Turbo has configured it with a WGS Patrol Package that includes:

• Europa
• Workstations
• FLIR HD
• Selex Seaspray
• ELINT
• COMINT
• Magnetic Anomaly Detector
• Bouy Deployment System
• Bouy Transceiver System
• Downlink System
• Tactical Data Link
• AIS Receiver
• DSLR Cameras & Camcorders
• Multi Media Projectors
• BTC Installation
• Search Radar Radome

WGS Station

It also includes Ground Stations - Fixed Ground Stations, Mobile Ground Stations, and Man Portable Ground Stations.

Bringing Back Mass Railroad Use in the Philippines

Bringing back Mass Railroad use in the Philippines

1. Government owned and maintained railroad tracks and control system

2. Rented by private and NGO rolling stock

3. Local technology and manufacturing development

4. Open source, using COTS control system

5. Direct bond issue retail sale and stock sale, to the public

6. Backwards development of steel industry

7. Piggy back capability for vehicles

8. Internet ticketing

9. Technology exports development

10. Interconnected with other transport systems

Strong Economy From A Strong Defense

The Chinese sea- and islands grab in the West Philippine Sea is a long term threat to the Pilipino nation. With the proper pro-Pilipino mindset, this can be turned into an opportunity to make a stronger Pilipino nation. More specifically, this can be a vehicle towards a strong Pilipino economy in the Defense sector.

Meeting Ground for Agreement > Peace and Development in Mindanao

There are many successful Bangsa Moro businessmen even in Metro Manila while those in Mindanao don't feel development and they have the guns.
Change will not come to Mindanao overnight after centuries of colonization by kastilas, u.s. and now Manila.

The strategy is to prove to more and more Bangsa Moro that they are better off as Pilipinos by starting to implement immediately the government proposals even without a peace agreement yet.

For those who still want armed struggle, the government meet them with appropriate response including decisive police action with new Bangsa Moro police force.

The objective is more integration of the Bangsa Moro with mainstream Pilipino with more people to people contact.

Tulad tayo sa Bangsa Moro noon bago nakolonya ng kastila at u.s. atmay maaambag sila sa Bansang Pilipino.
Sa Senado matagal ng walang Bangsa Moro na umupo. Mas maganda rin sigurong sila ang mamimili para mas maisulong ang kanilang interes, kasama ang mga Bangsa Moro sa Kamara de Representante.
Since a Bangsa Moro senator will have a hard time winning, in the meantime include a winnable Bangsa Moro candidate acceptable to a broad Bangsa Moro majority in the 2013 Senatorial lineup.

Huwag ng isali ang mga negosyante, mas mabuti pa mga NGO at Civil Society ang isalI. Isali din si Mayor Duterte para may boses din ang mga more recent immigrants.
MILF disarming will not fly. Instead put the high-powered weapons in a series of centralized depositories under the control of an independent Indonesian, Japanese and Norwegian group. Personal weapons similar to FEU-regulated weapons can be with the individual MILF membe.
It is better if Kato is under MILF so he will be covered by the peace agreement conditions.We just have to convince Kato that it's better for them in a truly autonomous region in a strong Philippines in all senses. This will convince him to be part of it.

Kailangan ng alisin ang mga polisiya ng gobyerno na nanggaling pa sa mananakop na kastila at u.s. na nagtulak sa mga taong tulad ni Kato na maghimagsik laban sa pamahalaan.
Kailangang matutukan at bigyan ng solusyon ang malawakang pagpa titulo ng mga lupa na ginawa ng kastila, u.s., at Pilipinas kung saang may mga Bangsa Moro at Lumad na nawalan ng mga lupain.
Kailangan ding matanggap ng mga Bangsa Moro at Lumad na may karapatan din sa Mindanao
ang mga maraming bagong dating dito.
Sa maaga pa kausapin na si Kato. Ang mga demands niya na masasakop din sa kasunduaan sa MILF ibigay na rin sa grupo niya. Kung gagamit pa siya at kanyang grupo ng dahas at armadong pakikibaka, epektibong police action ang nararapat. Tignan din kung pwedeng makatulong ang mga Indones dito. Huwag ng isawsaw pa ang al-qaeda ng u.s. dito.

Pakingan din si Kato at alamin ang kanyang posisyon, kung kaya sa konstitusyon at sa peace agreement. Kung tuloy pa rin sa armadong paglaban pagkatapos, all out police action na laban sa kanya with new Bangsa Moro police force.

At magpapalakas sa bayan natin para harapin ang pananakop ng China.

Bigyan natin ng puwang ang pagbabawi sa pang-aapi sa Bangsa Morona sinimulan pa ng mga kastila at itinuloy ng u.s.

Kailangang iwaksi ang bulok na iniwan ng mga kastila at u.s. na mananakop

Karapat dapat lang na kasama ang Sultanate of Sulu at North Borneo, kahit humina na ito kompara dati dahil sa pagtira ng nangolonyang u.s. Dapat maprotektahan din ang pag-aari nila sa North Borneo/Sabah na inangkin ng Malaysia. Palakasin dapat ang partisipasyon ng Indonesia para balansehin ang Malaysia.

The substance of a substate can be accommodated within the present constitution, and a law from the Congress. Initially, the government can immediately start implementing all the autonomy laws that we have now.
As to the weapons, high powered ones can be centralized under the supervision of Indonesia and Japan but not Malaysia.

We also need Bangsa Moro representation in the Senate by reserving 1 slot for someone who is elected by the Bangsa Moro. In the meantime, political parties can get more viable Bangsa Moro senatorial candidates in their slates for 2013.

Matagal ng api ang mga Bangsa Moro. Pagbigyan naman sila ngayon ng buo ang bayan nating
haharap sa China.

Tuloy-tuloy ang baseng u.s. sa mindanao na dapat ng paalisin.

NO acknowledging the sovereignty of Malaysia over Sabah. Malaysia keeps playing the MILF card to destabilize Mindanao and prevent Sabah claim from progressing.

A Peace and Development agreement with the Bangsa Moro now can make us stronger to face the China seagrab and foreign control of our economy. This will lead a towards better quality of life for all Pilipinos specially in Mindanao.

More role for Indonesia is necessary that will lead to better results in Mindanao.

Dapat matigil muna ang oil exploration dahil dayuhan lang ang nakikinabang sa kakaunti nating langis.

Dapat nag-uusap ang mga Pilipino bago gamitin ng mga dayuhan ang divide and rule na naman para patuloy ang paghahari-harian nila sa atin.

Affording to abrogate the U.S. VFA

In an Inquirer article http://services.inquirer.net/mobile/10/11/24/html_output/xmlhtml/20101124-304979-xml.html, Manong Johnny said "We can’t afford to abrogate VFA".

As the Senate President and as an old Ilocano Tangken Mangubat (Hardy Warrior), Laki Juan should now be one of the primary leaders to provide the Pilipino nation the affordability of abrogating the U.S. VFA.

It is now the ripe time to abrogate the U.S. VFA. to prevent the tragedy of our country again being the war zone of the U.S. military as in

1. the U.S.-Spanish War in the end of the 19th century,
   
2. the Pilipino-U.S. War at the start of the 20th century, and the
   
3. U.S.-Japan War in the 1940's.

The U.S.-China conflict is heating up and we will be devastated if we become a war zone in this gargantuan conflict between these two behemoths.

Abrogating the U.S. VFA. will also eliminate the possible escalation to participation in U.S. led wars like in

1. the Korean War in the 1950's,
   
2. the Vietnam War in the 1960's, and
   
3. the supposedly War on Terror of today.
   

This War on Terror has become the cover that has led to the permanent basing of U.S. troops in our country in stealth camps within our own military camps.

How can we afford to abrogate the U.S. VFA?

It will first, take a paradigm shift in the mindset of our leaders and fellow Pilipinos who have been educated by a U.S.-designed educational system.

It will second, take a lot of money that I think we have, and that will be more cost effective if done the thrifty and no-corrupt way. It will even develop the local economy, technology and industry.

A short initial shopping list will be:

1. Stand-up even just 5 fighters from more reliable suppliers like France and Russia. Their Mirage2000 or Sukhoi 30 would be great.
2. Fit the best patrol boats of the navy with SSM and SAM systems, also from reliable suppliers.
3. Start a subnarine force with a second-hand coastal unit that can then be locally manufactured in the future.
4. Revive the self-reliance program of the AFP specially in rockets/missiles, small arms, armor, patrol boats, light aircraft
5. Air and surface radar system
   

Contrary to what some legal luminaries say that the U.S. VFA is a treaty, based on our Constitution it is not as it was not ratified by the U.S. Congress as required for by our Constitution.

Thus we can legally unilaterally abrogate the U.S. VFA, though the question is will the U.S. let us without a coup d'etat. And do we have the ukel?

Lessons from the Luneta hostage incident

Lessons from the Luneta hostage incident

First off, let me offer my condolences to the families of the hostages that died at the incident. It’s very sad as they were guests in our country.

I will not engage in fault finding here but rather provide possible solutions that will lower the probability of a similar outcome in the future. My source of data is basically what were shown on television.

1. Our policemen showed dedication to duty but were ill-trained, ill-equipped and with no proper standard operating procedures. I have read in the past that there are units that are specially trained in this kind of situation but it seems they were not used here. Maybe turf conflicts? The proper standard operating procedures or protocol, training, and equipment must now be implemented immediately.
2. The media, egged on by their seal to produce news and maybe even ratings, inadvertantly provided the hostage-taker with situational awareness that he should not have. A protocol for media coverage must now be implemented for these kinds of situations. But I am sure the media will try to use all its powers to oppose and circumvent this.
3. The bus was not properly isolated from people and communications. Thus the need for proper crowd control, cellphone signal blocker, TV signal jammer, etc. for situations like this.
4. The negotiator did a good job initially and was able to secure the release of hostages. Our negotiators must be well-versed with Pilipino behavioral patterns, as their negotiator training came from Western training that is based on Western behavior.
5. The handling of the hostage-taker’s family backfired. Assuming that the brother was feeding information to the hostage-taker, he was already isolated and effectively neutralized. No need already for the dramatics that angered the hostage-taker.
6. Assuming that the Office of the Ombudsman was lax in responding to the letters of the hostage-taker, this may be due to the inordinate time that government employees spend on the Internet doing personal unofficial tasks during official office hours. The government must now manage this waste both in time and money spent on inappropriate and unneeded ICT systems.
7. The Office of the Ombudsman should be investigated on how it handled the hostage-taker’s case that ignited this incident. I hope it is not similar to the way it handled the Aroyo cases.

Moving forward, let us extend all the courtesies to the victims and their families. Tourism inflow will surely dip on the short term but with genuine reforms in the management of this kind of situation, that I hope the news media will cover, tourism will surely recover. And our people will have renewed confidence on our police to properly handle such situations in the future.

Anti Poor - Proposed 12 year Basic Education

The proposed 12 year Basic Education program of the Department of Education is anti poor. It is anti poor because:

1. It adds two years expenses for parents before their children can graduate - at least 20% more expenses that could have been used for other basic needs such as food, clothing, housing, health, etc.
2. It adds at least 20% more costs to the government that could have been used for more important productive uses such as irrigation systems, roads, agricultural production facilities, health, reforestation, Exclusive Economic Zone protection, water systems, waterway rehabilitation, housing, etc., etc.
3. 20% more students are in the non-productive mode in the education system, rather than in the productive employment mode.

The only sectors that I can see who will benefit from the proposed 12 year Basic Education program, and who will naturally support this are:

1. School owners - it will mean 20% more students resulting to higher revenues and profits
2. Book publishers - it will mean 20% more books resulting to higher revenues and profits
3. School supplies businesses - it will mean 20% more school supplies resulting to higher revenues and profits
4. Construction companies - it will mean a one time 20% more buildings and facilities resulting to higher revenues and profits
5. School bus operators - it will mean 20% more students to transport resulting to higher revenues and profits

As we can see, it´s the rich business owners who will benefit from the proposed 12 year Basic Education program. And the poor who will suffer the consequences.

The rationale for the proposed 12 year Basic Education program is that our graduates pale in comparison to the graduates of those countries that have 12 year Basic Education program, like the U.S. I beg to disagree with this as our high school graduates are as competitive in the entrance examinations to U.S. colleges and Universities. Our college graduates are also in high demand by foreign employers.

It is accepted that the Basic Education program needs to be improved. But it should not be anti poor that will lead to the situation where more of the poor will become Out Of School Youth, thus continuing and exacerbating the poverty cycle.

Instead, what must be done is to make the present Basic Education program more affordable to the poor and universally available. The money for the additional 2 year levels should be spent on this, instead of spending it to benefit the richer sectors of the society.

The main things that should be done are:

1. Maintain 1:30 teacher to student ratio in every class
2. Maintain 1:1 class to classroom ratio in every school
3. Concentrate on Reading, Writing, and Values on the first two years
4. Stop the textbook churn where textbooks are constantly changed, benefiting only the book publishers and corrupt officials while producing error-prone books
5. Standardize school building designs that can be used as calamity evacuation areas, to reduce cost and corruption
6. Provide all teachers access to computers to ease their work load and research
7. Stop all demolition of school buildings until no. 2 above is reached, and require repairs instead
8. Increase the basic salary of teachers to P25,000 per month
9. Use Information and Communications Technology such as the computer, Internet, cell phone, radio, television, to make education accessible to all

The primary objective of the Basic Education program is to graduate productive and nationalistic Pilipinos.