By Mathew Dearnaley
Philippines President Joseph Estrada will be treated to a spectacular flying display above Auckland tomorrow in a Government bid to sell the Air Force's Skyhawk fleet.
The commander of the Philippines Air Force, Lieutenant-General Willie Cacdac Florendo, is also likely to be taken for a flight in a two-seater
TA-4 Skyhawk as part of the sales drive.
Two Skyhawks will be flown to the Whenuapai airbase for the occasion, with a single-seater A-4 being used for a display to show the Philippines that it remains an agile aircraft despite getting on in years.
But the visitors, here for Apec, may run into a domestic political storm on the ground, given resistance by opposition political parties to the Government's lease of 28 United States F-16 fighter jets.
Labour leader Helen Clark said last night that the Government's haste to clear the decks for the F-16 lease was constitutionally improper.
A spokesman for Defence Minister Max Bradford confirmed earlier that the Philippines was one of several countries interested in the 19 Skyhawks.
He was unwilling to identify the other contenders without their permission, but said consultants Ernst and Young were under instructions to try to sell the fleet as a going concern.
The Government wants to sell the Skyhawks to help to pay the $363 million F-16 lease. It has approached almost 20 possible purchasers throughout Asia and South America, while steering clear of Indonesia.
Although a sale would not be concluded overnight, Helen Clark said the Government was doing all it could to make it harder for any successive Administration to get out of the 10-year F-16 deal.
"It is actually irresponsible. It is the Government's intention to try to drive this through as quickly as possible."
She said that before it opened its chequebook, the Philippines should take note of Parliament's foreign affairs and defence select committee report, which called for the deal to be reviewed.
The Philippines was itself a contender for the New Zealand-bound F-16s and ex-Kuwaiti A-4 Skyhawks before the Asian financial crisis.
