Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-31359123-20170221090546

The same company -- Magcale’s Stone of David -- represented Israel Military Industries (IMI) in 2014 in the Philippine Army’s Php6.5B Shore-Based Missile System (SBMS) Project, where they tried to sell the Philippines a hogwash of a product that President Aquino, the DND and the AFP had sense enough to set aside (a polite way of rejecting, although some very corrupt AFP senior leaders tried to recommend it).

Magcale’s product, the Extra Missile of IMI was set aside and suspended due to realizations that the missile would not only fall miserably short of the AFP’s requirements, it would also significantly increase the possibility of all-out war with China or our Asian neighbours if we ever resorted to using them. These missiles were proven to be incapable of defending the Philippines’ archipelagic territory because they had a relatively short range (only 150 km as opposed to the Philippine EEZ of 200 nautical miles or 320 km and our Westernmost claims in the West Philippine Sea which are of up to 600 km from our nearest land mass in Palawan or Bataan and Zambales) and they could not engage moving targets (for instance, all potential aggressor and threat targets in the West Philippine Sea are all moving). The Extra Missile can only hit static targets within its limited range of 150 km.

Nonetheless, Magcale moved heaven and earth to have her missile product approved, even co-opting some military and public officials particularly using her close allies in the DND and AFP. However, because of his concern for the military and what is right for the government and the country, then AFP Chief of Staff Iriberri resisted Magcale’s machinations.

Magcale had used numerous connections to Malacañang to get her incapable missile product approved, all to no avail. She even made a political alliance with then Vice President Jejomar Binay, with whom she and IMI officials became very close to, expecting that because of his popularity at that time (early to middle part of 2015) he would succeed President Aquino, and be beholden to her group.  