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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 ================= ================= ================= ================= ================= ================= ================= |
The Filipino Soldier Sec. Eduardo Ermita, November 30, 2003
THE Armed Forces of the Philippines is the inheritor of this tradition, that of a nationalist army born of the Filipino struggle for freedom. The revolutionary forces from which the AFP traces its origin were called the Army of Liberation of the Philippines. This is why the Philippine Army celebrates, as its founding day, the 22nd day of March, the day in 1897 that the revolutionists who had risen against Spain in Manila and in Central Luzon dissolved their secret society, the Katipunan, and established a Filipino Republic. And the very first act of this nation-in-being was to organize an army of liberation. The revolutionary Convention elected as its first Captain-General, a rank equivalent to today’s Chief of Staff, a patriot so uncompromising that, long after the Filipino cause was lost, he could not reconcile himself to defeat and surrender. That first Chief of Staff was Artemio Ricarte and, as we know, he chose long years of prison and then exile rather than pledge allegiance to the American regime. Ordinary Filipinos fought on long after the elite had given up That Army of Liberation of a hundred years ago was made up of everyday Filipinos then unschooled in the art of modern war. Hence the Americans easily won the conventional war of battalion-to-brigade level engagements in the field. Defeat in the conventional war convinced the last of the ilustrado elite to side with the Americans. Yet Aguinaldo’s decision, in November 1899, to revive Bonifacio’s Katipunan and then resort to guerrilla warfare enabled the Filipino Republic to fight on for six more years. As the eminent historian Onofre D. Corpuz notes, [I]n virtually every town in Luzon and the Visayas, the town-people, organized as Katipunan chapters, provided cover and shelter, provisions and men, nursing care and treatment, and courier service to the guerrilla bands in the area. The Katipunan was also a shadow government in each town, collecting taxes for the support of the guerrillas and conducting peoples courts that tried local collaborationist of the enemy. By attracting the loyalty of ordinary Filipinos, the guerrilla war lasted until June 1906, when five regular US Army battalions occupied the island of Leyte, leaving only small pockets of resistance in Luzon and the Visayas. By then the Americans had committed two-thirds of their entire army, suffered 7,000 dead and wounded and spent $600 million in subduing their so-called Philippine Insurrection. Citizen army in the Pacific War In 1935, as we know, the Commonwealth Government of the Americans established to prepare the Filipinos for independence organized a citizen army led by professional officers from the colonial military. During the Pacific War, this citizen-army distinguished itself at Bataan and Corregidor and in the guerrilla campaigns against the Japanese. In the course of the Cold War, Philippine expeditionary forces also served with distinction in Korea and in Vietnam. Unlike its aristocratic counterparts in Spain’s Latin-American colonies, the Filipino officer corps has never been a caste that set itself apart from mainstream society. Historically, the Philippine Military Academy has been the ladder to middle-class status for children of the poor. For instance, one recent PMA baron was the son of a market vendor in a small Visayan town. Another was the son of a Cebu Island policeman. The heroism inherent in ordinary people Hanggang ngayon, ang tatag ng AFP galing sa tahimik na pagpapakabayani ng marami sa atin. Sa katunayan, maraming Medalya ng Kagitingan (Medal of Valor) ang iginawad sa mga ating mga ordinaryong kawal, mga kabo at mga sarhento. Ang Medalya ng Kagitingan ay ginagawad lamang bilang pinakamataas na pagkilala sa ipinamalas na katapangan, pagkamaginoo at kabuuan ng loob. Ngunit sa mahigit kalahating siglo, ang mga sundalong Pilipino ay nagpamalas ng walang humpay na kagitingan sa tuloy-tuloy na pakikipaglaban ng Sandatahang Lakas laban sa mga komunista at iba pang mga rebelde, mga matagal ng laban na halos nakalimutan na ng karamihan. Sa katunayan, sa bawat makalawang araw, isang sundalong Pilipino po ang nagbubuwis ng buhay sa pakikipaglaban sa anumang sulok ng kapuluan. At ang kaniyang kamatayan ay di alam ng karamihan, maliban sa kaniyang pamilya, kaibigan at kasamahan sa labanan. Our own task is to make this country fit for heroes to live in. This is why we have decided to awaken our country and our people to these quiet sacrifices our soldiers make every day for its safety and its tranquillity. As Bonifacio, Rizal and their generation offered up their lives for their countrys sake, so are soldiers today doing the same without hope of reward, but as a simple duty. So, on this solemn day dedicated to the Great Plebeian the model of the ordinary Filipino who rose to heroism when the call of duty came let us rededicate ourselves to the cause of our country and our people. For our heroes of a hundred years ago, the challenge was that of founding a Filipino nation. Today our challenge is to make this country the inalienable home of the Filipino nation, a country fit for heroes to live in. Just as ordinary people the Katipuneros of Bonifacios time rose to heroism in the crucible of revolution, so can we rise above our everyday concerns by taking up our share of the civic burden. Every citizen can make a difference and if we pull together, we can lift up the common life and raise our country to the dignity it deserves in the community of nations. Ito pong responsibilidad na ito, hindi na po natin maaaring ipaubaya sa susunod na henerasyon. Sino pa ba kundi tayo rin ang dapat magtuwid ng ating kapalaran? Sino pa ba kundi tayo rin ang dapat na magbuo muli ng isang lipunan at mamamayang may pagkakaisa? Gaya ng ninais nina Rizal at Bonifacio isang siglo na ang nakakaraan, ngayon na ang panahon upang magkaisa tayong muli, kung nais nating mailigtas ang ating mag sarili. Pagbabago ang dapat na mamayani. Ang ating kinabukasan, ang kinabukasan ng ating mga kabataan ay nakasalalay sa ating mga kamay. On the occasion therefore of Bonifacio Day, let us make the resolve to reconcile and unite as one people, and continue our quest for a much brighter future. Let us remember that there is no better service on this day than to remind our people who have forgotten our present-day heroes: The Filipino soldier. =====================================
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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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Remarks
delivered by Defense Secretary Eduardo R. Ermita in celebration of the 2003
Bonifacio Day at the Philippine Army headquarters in Fort Bonifacio