Saturday, December 13, 2014

Why the Philippines is now weak militarily...


The initial salvo came from the 1987 Philippine Constitution itself. When its authors misguidedly included a provision prohibiting our defense spending from exceeding our education spending.

The 1989 Military Uprising was the nail on the coffin.

After the 1989 military uprising, the Philippine Civilian Establishment developed a serious case of miitary jitters. It then embarked on a crusade to de-fang the Philippine Military Establishment.

The dissolution of the Philippine Constabulary... the transfer of the INP to the DILG... the closure of the military camps in Metro Manila... the transfer of the armored units to Tarlac... the closure of the Scout Ranger camp in Tanay... the closure of the CAT Program... the downgrade to non-mandatory status of the ROTC Program... were all driven by this inner fear of the Philippine Military Establishment... and its game-changing role in Philippine national politics.

The subsequent EDSA II, EDSA III, Oakwood, and Makati Peninsula capers just further reinforced this fear.

At one point, they even dissolved the Honor Guard unit guarding the Rizal Monument and replaced them with civilian security guards!

If we are now being militarily humiliated by China in the West Philippine Sea, we are just reaping what we have misguidedly sown.

Beijing just saw the opportunity and is going for the jugular.

And unless our Civilian Leadership can get out of this paradigm (to the credit of the Incumbent PNoy Administration, they appear to have turned the corner, even if just very slowly), we are going to lose a big chunk of our national territory and suffer even more national humiliation. 

2 comments:

  1. Blame the Generals ask them where did the money goes intended for military hardware goes especially during Marcos, Cory, Estrada and Arroyos time

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    1. nope! ask fvr where the proceeds of the sale of fort bonofacio (now bonifacio global city) went when it is supposed to fund the afp modernization...

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