Why the entire national security apparatus is ailing

Since 1986, the entire national security apparatus of the nation has been sick.

The 1986 Edsa Revolution started it all. The AFP chief of staff who came from the ROTC was replaced by Fidel V. Ramos, a US military academy graduate. Thereafter, graduates of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) succeeded him to the position of chief of staff. Down the line, PMA graduates started occupying key positions in the national security apparatus.

Was there anything wrong? Not at all, after all PMA graduates were well trained and well selected. They came from the best of our youth, trained by the best military school. But however good it was, there was a bad side. It was the beginning of the military dynasty in the national security apparatus that holds the monopoly of power today.

That monopoly of power has placed PMA graduates in almost all key positions, which has split the officer corps in two: one for them and the other for the second-class officers who came from the ROTC but occupy 70 percent of the officer corps.

With this structure, it is easy to see that morale had become a rooted problem. Such a problem erodes the efficiency, effectiveness, and efficacy of the organization. The indicators are there to see. The PNP has an unwholesome reputation. Their generals go to jail. The rank and file don’t report for duty. The PAF’s flight safety record is not something to be proud of. Their mistah system doesn’t work well. I know. I was there for 35 years.

The AFP, managed by PMA grads, has been fighting the insurgency for 70 years. The public can judge for itself how well or unwell it has gone. The truth of the matter is that in any organization where there is monopoly of power, elitism will rear its ugly head. Competition becomes extinct. Camaraderie disappears. People lose the elan to strive for excellence.

Power corrupts. It is as true today as it was in the days of Lord Acton. That is why there is always the need for checks and balances as enshrined in our Constitution. Seven years ago, there was a bill in the Senate filed by five senators to establish separate academies for the Air Force and the Navy to produce officers in the AFP that would serve that all-important doctrine of checks and balances. Instead, the PMA was reinvented to become a tri-service academy. The result: more of the same. The graduates have continued to flood the entire security apparatus. The monopoly of power is for us to see. It is from one mistah to the next like a revolving door. The military dynasty enshrined elitism in the entire national security apparatus.

Let it be said that the PMA is not an elitist school. Most of the cadets come from the middle class and poor families. Elitism is never a doctrine or policy in the AFP. I sent two of my sons there, and we are not by any means an elitist family. But the course of human events led the organization to what it is today.

Truly, the AFP Officers Corps is now too powerful. It is a monster. The public knows that. Sadly, there is nothing to provide checks and balances.

LT. GEN. ANTONIO E. SOTELO, AFP (Ret.)
Muntinlupa City
antonio.e.sotelo@gmail.com