A video posted on Facebook (FB) claims that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Modernization Program received zero budget from 2023 to 2025. This is false.
Uploaded on March 2, the video used an audio clip from an oral argument in the Supreme Court on Feb. 25, where Associate Justice Amy Lazaro-Javier supposedly criticized the lack of budget for the AFP Modernization Program.
The video, however, showed a clip of House Speaker Martin Romualdez meeting with uniformed officials.
The text on the video read:
“BBM Gustong Kalabanin Ang China, pero ZERO BUDGET pala Sa ARM FORCES OF THE PHILIPPINES (AFP) MODERNIZATION PROGRAM
DUTERTE GAA
2020 – 25 BILLION
2021 – 27 BILLION
2022 – 29+ BILLION
MARCOS GAA
2023 – ZERO
2024 – ZERO
2025??? “
Records from the Department of Budget Management show that the program received funding in those years.
Under the 2023 General Appropriations Act (GAA), the program was allocated a budget of P27.5 billion. In the 2024 GAA, its budget increased to P40 billion. Meanwhile, the program received P35 billion under the 2025 GAA.
The footage used in the post is an old video taken on Dec. 3, 2024, when AFP officials paid a courtesy call on Romualdez to discuss provisions for the modernization program, including the proposed additional P350 daily allowance for soldiers.
The erroneous video surfaced days after the oral arguments at the Supreme Court where Justice Javier questioned the reallocation of the PhilHealth budget to fund unrelated programs already covered in the national budget and with predictable expenses, such as the AFP modernization program.
The FB video has garnered 201,000 views, 1,100 likes, and 2,900,000 comments as of writing time.
