All major service units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) — the Army, Navy, and Air Force — will soon be relocated to the AFP general headquarters in Camp Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo in Quezon City, similar to the arrangement in the United States’ Pentagon, a military official disclosed.

Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo, Navy spokesman, said they welcome the move for alternative sources of modernization fund, as announced by President Aquino during his first State-of-the-Nation Address (SoNA).

Arevalo said that the implementation of the proposed private-public partnership will begin as soon as the President signs the executive order authorizing the armed forces to utilize some of their prime properties to generate funds that will be used to pursue the AFP modernization plan.

“As a general statement, the Philippine Navy welcomes this development because it will allow us to realize the modernization of the Navy that we have all been asking for a time,” said Arevalo.

President Aquino, also the military’s Commander-in-Chief, in his first SoNA, cited the urgent need to modernize especially the Navy which has only about 32 aging ships of World War II vintage to guard the country’s 36,000 nautical miles shoreline.

The AFP will enter into a private-public partnership, in which a private proponent will rent the Navy property on Roxas Boulevard where its headquarters is currently located and the Naval Station in Fort Bonifacio for $100 million. The Navy headquarters will then relocate in Camp Aguinaldo.

“He saw the need for the Navy to modernize but he said we also need to find. alternative sources of fund for the modernization to push through. So the AFP mentioned the proposed is private-public partnership wherein we will make good use of some of our under utilized properties,” Arevalo said.

Arevalo said under the scheme the Navy’s lot no. 1, which is what they call the land where the Naval station in Fort Bonifacio is located, as well as its property along Roxas Boulevard will be utilized to raise needed funds for the Navy’s capability upgrade program.

He added the proponent has agreed to construct a building in the property which will house the fleet Marine units that will be displaced once the development at the present location of the Fort Bonifacio Naval Station begins.

“This will also cause the displacement of officers and marines and other personnel who have their quarters at the Bonifacio Naval Station.

So what the proponent is willing to do is they will construct 300 to 400 condominium units at Camp Claudio in Parañaque, which will accommodate the displaced officers, sailors, and marines,” Arevalo further explained.

He added parallel to this, the proponent also agreed to construct structures at Camp Aguinaldo where the Navy headquarters will be relocated.