There is an old Latin saying which says “if you seek peace prepare for war.”
It is generally agreed that the Philippine armed forces is one of the weakest in the world.
This is an anomaly given that this country id the twelfth biggest in the globe in terms of
population. The question is why is this the case?
There are many hypotheses advanced. One obviously is lack of funding from a niggardly
congress whose appropriation for the armed forces in terms of a percentage of GDP is lowest in
the region. Another is that the mutual defense agreement with the US has developed a state of
dependency and a culture of mendicancy on the part of the government who still hopes that the
1951 treaty will produce a credible defense force which can deter any external threat. Indeed not
even the hand-me- downs and second-hand equipment from the US has been matched by the
Philippine government in the absence of an existential external threat since the end of the Second
World War, Unfortunately the internal threat have been real as evidenced by events in Mindanao
which has been turned into virtual war zone with firefights continuing unabated in the last three
months.
It is now conventional wisdom among security think tanks that the lack of a
comprehensive security plan is behind our lack of preparedness for war. Whatever happened to
Marcos’ self-reliant defense model, the proceeds from the sale of government lands and the
ROTC?
Perhaps we need a new mindset. National security is not only the responsibility of our
military forces of some 150,000 that are under armed, undertrained and underpaid, as shown in
the Maute campaign. It has to resort to begging from allies for combat planes warships and even
patrol boats for the coastguard. The reason for the protracted war in Marawi according to the
military is not only the inadequacy of intelligence or the lack of proper training in urban warfare
but more importantly the lack of such basic hardware as tanks and armored vehicles needed to
crush the heavily embedded enemy in superior vantage positions.
What has not been inculcated among our citizenry is the national security is the
responsibility of all able-bodied members of the community. While it is true that the heavy-
lifting is the task of the military who are the first responders in case of invasion, it is also true
that a citizen army to backstop the armed forces is the norm in most countries who have trained
reservists that can be mobilized posthaste in any crisis situation as first responders to armed
conflict or natural disasters. This is true in smaller nations the like of Switzerland, Taiwan,
Singapore, Israel and neighboring countries. It is even truer in bigger nations in Europe and
elsewhere. Indeed national security must be made participatory and no able-bodied citizen can
shirk this obligation, hence the call for the revival of the ROTC and the civilian army concept.
Can you imagine if only ten percent of the population in this country of 100 million can be called
to arms. We would have the biggest militia in the world?
Another consideration fathered by Marcos was a self-reliant armed forces that can
manufacture even part of its weaponry. If we can manufacture more of that exportable paltik
from Danao, and patrol boats from our baraderos or shipyards in Cebu and Bataan we can be
less dependent on our allies for supplies. If we were able to build the circumnavigating galleons
from Cavite shipyards why cannot we do the same today? Informatively we are now building
very heavy ocean-going cargo and container ships for neighboring countries like South Korea in
Bataan shipyards. Yes, indeed we have all the skills to build a modest but credible military
industrial complex to service our self-reliant armed forces but do we have the political will to do
so?. In fact as we write, superpowers like China and Russia are offering to put up manufacturing
plants for war materiel in the country.
But first of all let us get rid of that mendicant attitude and the culture of dependency
rooted in our military alliance with our former colonizer. We are no longer the little brown
brother who can be supplied only with toy guns. As we pursue our independent foreign policy as
mandated by the constitution we must as the saying goes seek peace but prepare for war so that
as the anthem goes ne’er shall invaders trample our sacred shores!