A reboot of Philippine foreign relations

When President Rodrigo Duterte withdrew this threat in August 2021 to cancel the Visiting Forces Agreement, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana’s exclaimed, “We are back on track!”

It was Professor Renato de Castro of De La Salle University, however, who called it correctly when he said that any genuine reset of PH-US relations “will have to wait until President Duterte is no longer president.”

President Marcos Jr. did just that. In just eight months, while appearing indecisive on pressing domestic policy issues, he not only reset Philippine-American relations by giving US forces four more Edca (Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement) sites but has boldly rebooted Philippine foreign and international relations.

The Marcos decision was brilliant, completing a double security arc that had lain frustratingly incomplete.

The first, inner arc, is the unmistakable forward PH-US security string of military bases facing China—two bases in Cagayan just below Taiwan, two in Palawan and one in Zambales facing the West Philippine Sea, and one each in Isabela, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Cebu, and Cagayan de Oro.

The second, outer arc, is the US security arc in the region comprising Australia, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and Thailand. This also creates a region of security confidence among regional partners like India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam, and the Pacific Islands.

The Philippines, the closest country to Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea features that are likely future conflict flashpoints, is suddenly a key player.

As such, the Philippines is faced with opportunities and challenges that it must capably deal with.

The first one relates to how it will manage its relationship with the US military forces that in the past revolved around legal irritants, dignity and sovereignty issues, and compensation and benefits issues.

The second relates to the design elements of the Philippine military and US forces that will be deployed to the Philippines and the synergy of their relationship.

The Philippine military will have to rethink prevailing concepts of how to modernize the standalone Philippine defense forces—(1) the revival of Reserve Officers’ Training Corps; and (2) the incoherent acquisition of hardware—weapons, armor, ships, planes, communication, mobility, and logistics.

The relationship will also need to adjust to the way US military forces are transforming themselves.

The hallowed US Marine Corps, for instance, has been stirred by the proposed Force Design 2030 that envisions marines fighting in dispersed small units operating across chains of islands equipped with new powerful and intelligent weapon systems.

The plan is controversial because it contemplates cutting back on foot soldiers and discarding all tanks.

This radical force redesign of the US and other armed forces all over the world, of course, is inspired by lessons learned from the year of hitherto unthinkable novel forms, scale, brutality, and spillovers of the Russian war on Ukraine.

Beyond the bilateral PH-US relationship, the regional context also demands rethinking. As Nato and the EU are finding new impetus for collaboration in Europe, the same will happen in Asean, Quad, and other Asia and Indo-Pacific regional formations.

The best way to proceed in the PH-US military relationship is to put it through its paces.

I will consider the BRP Sierra Madre case as a good prototype. What is this new PH-US security relationship if it cannot provide some rehabilitation of the BRP Sierra Madre on Ayungin Shoal, which is slowly being strangled by Chinese coast guard and militia forces as part of their cabbage tactics?

It would be a source of great embarrassment if Ayungin Shoal gets taken over by the Chinese. It has been on life support over the past 20 years.

It would be a source of immense pride and confidence if the decrepit ship gets repaired and sports a new coat of paint.

It is time to rally the Filipino people to support a coherent and understandable direction in Philippine foreign policy, the way China has indoctrinated into the consciousness of their people that the South China Sea is their private lake.

I would be deliriously happy if some patriotic movie producer makes a movie that highlights the saga of the BRP Sierra Madre, giving us new heroes of those Filipino marines who have served their tour of duty on the ship, suffering with dignity the verbal, water cannon, and laser attacks by the Chinese Coast Guard and militia.

I would consider the BRP Sierra Madre as our new Corregidor, a symbol of the indomitable Filipino spirit that should not be allowed to falter and fall.

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