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================= Proposed Reforms in the AFP and PNP ================= ================= ================= ================= ================= ================= in Venezuela: How Relevant to Other Developing Worlds ================= ================= The President is the Biggest Threat to Military Discipline ================= ================= Reinventing the Philippine Military ================= ================= ================= ================= ================= ================= ================= |
Reinventing the Philippine Military Bobby M. Reyes /Roberto Reyes Mercado, Los Angeles, California, September 2003
Let us first discuss a short history of the role of the Philippine military in the annals of the country. Like the United States of America, the Philippines had also a military man as President when both countries declared independence from their colonizers. Unfortunately the President of the first Philippine Republic, Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, did not last long. The American Army captured him when his fledging government fought the so-called Christian version of the Filipino-American War of 1899-1902. And he immediately swore allegiance to the United States. (As pointed out by the members of the Philippine History Group of Los Angeles, California, there was a Muslim version of the Filipino-American War that lasted past 1913 and which the U.S. Army could not put an end prior to the start of World War II.)
The Filipino Version of West Point
The United States, as the colonizer of the Philippines, saw a need to introduce professionalism in the Philippine military. The Americans organized the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) in Baguio City in Northern Philippines. The PMA was patterned after the United States Military Academy at West Point. And more or less, the Americans succeeded in their mission of training the Philippine military establishment to be under civilian control. Civilian supremacy, as practiced traditionally in the United States, came into being in the Philippines.
The first elected President of the Second Philippine Republic after World War II was a brigadier general in the Philippine Army. But like General Aguinaldo’s stint, Gen. Manuel Roxas’ Presidency ended too soon. He died of a heart attack only after a few months as President.
Ramon Magsaysay became the first President with a military background after General Roxas. Mr. Magsaysay, who was a guerilla leader during World War II, became the secretary of National Defense during the administration of President Roxas’ vice president and successor, Mr. Elpidio Quirino. (President Quirino fired later Secretary Magsaysay over political differences. Mr. Magsaysay ran successfully against his former boss in 1953.) President Magsaysay succeeded in defusing the communist revolt in Luzon and pacified the Muslim insurrection in Mindanao. But like President Roxas, Mr. Magsaysay died in his first term of office when his Air Force One crashed in Cebu on March 17, 1957.
Ferdinand E. Marcos was also a guerilla leader during World War II. He became the President in 1965 after a successful stint in the Philippine Congress as a representative of Ilocos Norte, as a senator and as president of the Philippine Senate. While he was not a military man per se, Mr. Marcos managed to “remake” the Philippine military, which supported him when he declared martial law in September 1972. Mr. Marcos became eventually a dictator supported by the military for nearly 14 years. A people’s revolt called the EDSA I toppled Mr. Marcos in February 1986. The EDSA I was actually a military-led coup that, due to the pressure exerted by the United States and other countries, resulted in the installation of a civilian president, Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino.
President Aquino managed to survive several coup-d’etat attempts principally because a majority of the Philippine military leaders chose to support her. It was public knowledge that the military-industrial complex of the United States wanted civilian rule in the Philippines to continue, as America and the industrialized world shunned military juntas.
President Ramos, the West Pointer
After Presidents Aguinaldo and Roxas, the next military man to become President of the Philippines was Fidel V. Ramos. He is a cousin of President Marcos and served as the vice chief of staff of the Philippine military in his dictatorship. Mr. Ramos, a member of West Point’s Class of 1951, became also the secretary of National Defense of President Aquino, whom he supported during the EDSA I revolt. He was elected the President in 1992.
With due respect to Mr. Ramos, his tenure is now being rated by historians as another so-so presidency. The Philippines managed under President Ramos initially to have some economic successes on account of the financial triumphs of the then Bill Clinton presidency in the United States. The economic coattails of the United States managed to bring prosperity also to many developing and developed countries. But after the so-called Asian financial crisis came in 1997, the Philippines was stuck still in neutral gear even when her Southeast-Asian neighbors were on the road to recovery. Coupled with the accusations of huge graft-and-corruption scandals leveled against the Ramos Administration during its last two years, the legacy of Mr. Ramos has been irreparably tainted.
Some sectors in the Philippine society have batted for a “military solution” of the country’s search for competent, clean and courageous leadership. The three Cs, as described by Philippine Sen. Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr., has been apparently absent in many of the previous Administrations (and in the present Dispensation).
Even in November 2000 at the height of the impeachment trial of then President Joseph Estrada, some Filipinos batted online for military leadership. One of my then readers advanced in the Yimby.com Forum not only the cause of a military state but also the suggestion that the Filipino youth should join the Philippine military.
A Call to Arms?
At that time, I interviewed many Overseas Filipinos who thought that perhaps Filipino families should send many of their qualified children to the Philippine Military Academy (PMA). They all thought that the PMA is still a bastion of decent, law-abiding military officers, who are all willing to die for their country. (One reader’s comments are reproduced in full in the next paragraph.) I wrote in turn that perhaps the Overseas Filipinos should help the Philippines provide more funds to the PMA and the Flying School of the Philippine Air Force. I wrote also – as I have been writing since the early 1980s – for the need to help create a Philippine Naval Academy (PNA) that will produce excellent graduates for the maritime industry and the Philippine Navy. Perhaps I said that a political rallying cry could be patterned after the American slogans. Remember the American motto, “A Ford in every garage” or “A chicken in every pot”? It can be a PMAyer (also spelled as “Peemayer”) or an air-force pilot or a naval captain in every Filipino family.
Here are the comments from that reader:
· Re: Filipino tantrum
Username:
dcr Somehow I believe the drastic measure to change this inverted pyramid of malevolent current Philippine leadership at the top and the manipulable (sic) poor running aimlessly all over the archipelago breeding thoughtlessly like rats, at the bottom of this pyramid has to be the halfway house of a military state. It is premised on a trustworthy military. My call then is for the young, bright, idealistic Filipino youth to flood the military with their applications for membership into the ranks, rather than a rehash of people power to oust Erap and make room for the other vultures.
Lacson, a Filipino Version of Eisenhower?
The coming Philippine Presidential election on May 10, 2004, brings into focus the military-leadership scenario that some Filipinos (and some Overseas Filipinos) have been advocating. One of the leading presidential candidates is Sen. Panfilo Lacson. He is a PMA graduate (Class of 1971) and headed the Philippine National Police (PNP) during the Estrada Administration. Some of his supporters liken him to be a Filipino version of Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, who was elected President of the United States in 1952.To his critics, General Lacson is no General Eisenhower. Mr. Lacson, along with some of his junior officers, had been accused in court of ordering the execution of several members of a robbery gang but the case did not prosper. The Regional Trial Court (RTC) dismissed the case for insufficiency of evidence. The Arroyo Administration tried to revive the case but another RTC dismissed it again, principally on the ground of double jeopardy.
There was also an attempt to conduct a Blue-Ribbon Committee investigation in the Philippine Senate for the purpose of ousting Mr. Lacson as senator. But the senate majority allied with incumbent President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo could only produce hearsay evidence of the alleged criminal activities of the then General Lacson. He has been accused before the Court of Public Opinion of masterminding drug smuggling, kidnapping for ransom of rich Filipino-Chinese businessmen, the murder of eyewitnesses and suspects and other heinous crimes. But as Senator Pimentel told several members of the Filipino-American press in Los Angeles, California, “the evidence presented during the Senate hearings against Senator Lacson would not stand in court.”
There are Filipinos who advocate the formation of a military state by means of a coup d’etat. They think that the military could solve some of the pestering perennial problems of the Philippines. A military junta would eliminate supposedly nearly all of the so-called “trapos” (traditional politicians), the vested interests and the corrupt bureaucrats. It is true that the PMA graduates are some of the more-idealistic men and women of the country who are willing to die in combat in defending the Philippine Republic. The critics of the Philippine military say, however, that the culture of corruption has reached the top echelon of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). Some of them opine that unless the coup is launched successfully by junior officers, no foreseeable concrete changes would be possible by the imposition of a government run by a military junta. And there is the argument that power corrupts and without the constitutional check-and-balance mechanism, military rule would not succeed. As critics point out, this was the experience in Argentina, Chile, South Korea, Uganda, and Liberia and even in Thailand, to name a few countries that had military dictators.
The Lesson of “Black Jack” Pershing
In reality making the Philippines into a huge military camp would not solve the country’s problems. Military solutions have not worked in defusing the Moro rebellion in Mindanao and eliminating the threat of the New People’s Army (NPA) communist cadres. Why? Even during the American occupation of the Philippines, some of West Point’s best and brightest graduates could not defeat the Moro warriors. Gen. John J. “Black Jack” Pershing, with his training in West Point and in the Indian Wars, became the top leader of the American forces in Mindanao in the 1910s. But he failed. General “Black Jack” could not earn a 21-gun salute and defeat the native warriors. And there was no way of turning the pacification campaign into genocide. General Pershing failed to make a name in Mindanao. He became, however, the celebrated American hero in Europe during World War I, where he was sent after his undistinguished career in Mindanao. Yes, General Pershing and his soldiers could defeat the Prussian and the Ottoman empires but they could not win against the Sultanate of Sulu and other Moro tribes in Mindanao.
With due respect to the armed-forces leadership of the Philippines and to Generals Ramos and Lacson, military solutions have never worked in Mindanao. Resort to military formulae has not worked either in the barrios in Luzon and the Visayan Islands where the communist rebels operate. The Spanish and American colonizers tried but failed to subdue the Moro Filipino freedom fighters for almost 400 years. According to Senator Pimentel, the Moro leadership had assured him that one of two workable solutions is the adoption of a Federal System of Government (FSG). The other solution is to grant outright independence to the secessionist movement in Mindanao.
Suggested Basic Reforms
The country waits for a Constitutional Convention (ConCon) to be convened and perhaps tackle the issue of the FSG. In the meantime the new President who shall be elected on May 10, 2004, may wish to address the reforms needed for the AFP and the PNP. Had I been selected as a member of the United Opposition’s senatorial slate and elected to the Senate, I would have filed several bills to “reinvent” the Philippine military. Aside from reinventing the military criminal-justice system, here are the suggested basic reforms needed in order to professionalize further the rank and file of the military and police:
1.0 Increase the pay of the enlisted men to livable scale. It is hard to be an honest cop or a soldier willing to lay down his life for the country if the basic pay amounts to only $100 per month. How and where to get the funds for the upgrading of the salary and fringe benefits of government employees had been stated in an earlier installment of this “Reinventing the Philippines” series. Please go to www.philtime-usa.com/reinvent5.html and read again the proposal to reinvent the Philippine government budget and solve the country’s growing public indebtedness and budgetary deficits.
1.1 In order for the AFP and the PNP to earn additional funds for the welfare of their enlisted men, to bolster the military engineering brigades and medical corps. Let these military engineers bid for international contracts in reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, Iraq, in the Middle East, Africa and South America. Let the medical corps operate hospital ships and operate inland hospitals within and outside the Philippines.
1.2 The engineering battalions and medical corps can be fielded also in the far-flung barrios to help build infrastructures. These development efforts can go a long way in winning the hearts and minds of the ordinary people.
1.3 As done in the People’s Republic of China, the navy can also operate profitably ocean-going cruise ships, cargo vessels and oil tankers that can also serve as floating petroleum reserves of the country.
2.0 Organize as a priority impact project the long-proposed “Philippine Naval Academy (PNA)” and bolster the facilities, funding and enrollment for the PMA, the Flying School of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) and the Police Academy. As stated in the preceding sub-paragraph, new graduates of the PNA and naval retirees can be fielded in operating the proposed cruise and cargo vessels and oil tankers.
2.1 As early as 1982, I wrote about the need for the PNA. I obtained the support of several officers of the Philippine Navy. Among the supporters of the PNA idea were then Commodore Bert L. Lazo (now retired and based in Chicago, IL) and then Capt. Salvador G. Peran (now also retired). In May 1982 I visited Captain Peran who was then doing advanced studies at the Escuela de Guerrra Naval in Madrid, Spain. He accompanied me in paying a visit to the superintendent of the Spanish Naval Academy. I obtained the superintendent’s promise for Spain to provide assistance if and when the PNA is organized, possibly in a site in Sorsogon Bay. I lobbied for several years for the PNA but powers-that-be did not buy the idea.
3.0 To institute the needed reforms in the AFP and the PNP by strengthening the Judge Advocate General’s Office (JAGO). There should be a faster and a more-efficient way to prosecute corruption cases in a martial-court system. Perhaps the best features of the jury system in the United States could be adopted, so as to prevent undue pressure to the JAGO prosecutors.
4.0 To increase further the morale of the military and police personnel, the new President must announce a long-term program to acquire new equipment for the AFP and the PNP. This means that the country will not accept hand-me-downs surplus and nearly-obsolete military equipment from the United States and other foreign donors.
4.1 The Philippine Navy for instance will have to be authorized to proceed with its nearly 20-year-old plan of acquiring brand-new frigates and/or destroyers, so as to protect the country’s fishing (economic) zones. How to pay for the brand-new equipment may involve innovative financing that may draw international support. The oil companies that want to tap the vast oil reserves in the Spratley Islands may help obtain credits for the Philippines to obtain these vessels and other state-of-the-art equipment. The tourism-oriented multinational firms that want to develop tourism potentials of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) may be persuaded to help the Philippines modernize its military. Because one use of these modern frigates and other brand-new military equipment is to combat international piracy in the China Sea.
5.0 The military, including the Moro liberation armies and the NPA (under a grant of amnesty) should be allowed and encouraged to turn part of their military camps into enterprise zones. These proposed “military enterprise zones (MEZ)” might be used to raise livestock, produce dairy products and ultimately operate tanneries and leather factories. Perhaps the military can produce its own Filipino version of the combat boots. Yes, military-style shoes that would last more than the usual 30-day use as found in the present procurement system. Export versions of these combat boots and other leathercraft and other cottage-industry products may be sold to foreign buyers and even to the Overseas Filipinos.
5.1 These military organizations may also be allowed to engage in reforestation by organizing tree-farming cooperatives, as described in a “Reinventing the Philippine Landscape” article, as published in the www.PinoyOnBoard.com and in the www.philtime-usa.com.
5.2 Military units can also be the ideal operators of the thousands of hectares of abandoned fishponds in areas where peace-and-order situation is not ideal. This may be the best way to turn the proverbial swords into plowshares, sewing machines, canning equipment and fishing rods.
In this age of international terrorism, the whole world needs beefed-up security systems and dependable infrastructures. The AFP and the PNP may have to play bigger and more-responsible roles in securing the borders of the country and its thousands of inhabited islands. Professionalizing the Philippine military and keeping it economically viable will make the soldiers stay in the barracks and do their share in nation building. It is ideal of course to continue civilian supremacy in the local and national governments. Civilian officials have to be strict followers of the rule of law and order because the military can easily turn it into a rule of men. Yes, a rule of armed men in military uniforms.
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Home | From the Soldiers | The Struggle for Change | Withdrawal of Support | The Armed Forces | The Nation | Issues and Concerns -------------------------------------------------- From the People | Soldiers of the People | About Us | Links --------------------------------------------------
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Today
the threat of a new coup d’etat in the Philippines is slowly but surely
destabilizing the Philippine economy. The Philippine peso is depreciating.
The confidence of local and foreign investors is eroding. There is a series
of steps that the national leadership can do to “reinvent” the Philippine
military, as an institution that respects the constitutional process. Steps
can also be taken to enhance the military’s role as a traditional protector
of the republic of, for and by the people.