Invest in youth for defense

The Chinese proverb “Even the longest journey begins with the first step” depicts an ominous Chinese giant planting a foot on Scarborough Shoal en route to other territorial waters, even as its Ministry of Civil Affairs has announced the establishment of Sansha City to administer the Kalayaan (Spratly) Group of Islands, Paracel Islands, and Macclesfield Bank—the most assertive declaration of China’s claim to all the islands, reefs and shoals within the Nán Zhongguó Hai or South China Sea after the departure of the United States military forces from Clark and Subic in the late 1970s.

Meanwhile, as we try to stand our ground regarding the Scarborough Shoal and the Kalayaan Group of Islands with our meager but gallant Navy and Coast Guard, China continues to show off its military might and political cunning, evidently for the “benefit” of other claimant countries.

For years our military has been preoccupied with internal security while its well-thought-out modernization plans for external defense were put on the back burner on account of its limited budget. However, a nation’s defense, should it be brought to bear against a numerically and militarily superior power, does not depend solely on “chariots and horses” but also on its best resource, its people.

Small but militarily secure and confident countries like Israel, Switzerland, Singapore, and Taiwan have strong reserve forces owing to their conscription policies. Their National Service (NS) programs prepare their young men and women of age for military and civil defense roles, ready for muster in times of war and national emergencies requiring quick response.

It is distressing that we have a growing population of able-bodied but unskilled young men who end up with nothing much to do after high school, and in some cases getting involved in undesirable activities. In a scheme similar to the NS programs that progressive countries earnestly implement starting in boot camp, we could harness our untapped human resource to better mould them into becoming productive, law-abiding citizens, other than cultivating FarmVilles or honing their DotA fighting skills. Moreover, trade and livelihood skills initiated by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority may very well be incorporated into a self-defense and employment-driven training program, supplemented with values formation necessary for nation-building. Investing in our youth for our defense is investing for a secure and self-reliant nation.

—REY S. TRAJANO,

reytrajano@gmail.com