Honasan declares Senate bid, cites need for new AFP modernization program

MANILA, Philippines — Former senator Gregorio «Gringo» Honasan announced his intention to run for the Senate in the May 2025 midterm elections. He will file his certificate of candidacy on Monday.

If elected, Honasan vowed to advocate for the passage of a new Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Modernization Program law.

«The existing AFP modernization program will expire in 2027, and a new law will be needed to sustain projects that are meant to build up our national defense capabilities further,» Honasan said in a statement on Friday.

«We must continue the military's modernization efforts, especially given the rising tensions in the West Philippine Sea,» Honasan, a former chairman of the Senate Committee on National Defense and Security, said.

A former Philippine Army colonel, Honasan founded the Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM), which played a key role in the 1986 People Power Revolution.

Honasan was elected to the Senate four times.

When he first entered politics in 1995, Honasan became the first independent candidate in Philippine history to win a Senate seat.

He also previously served as secretary of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Congress, who originally approved a 15-year AFP modernization program in 1995, with an initial funding of at least P50 billion for the first five years.

In 2012, Congress revised and extended the program for another 15 years, with an initial funding of P75 billion for the first five years.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is seeking an additional P50 billion for the program in the proposed 2025 national budget, an increase from this year's P10-billion allocation.