AFP: the protector of the people

Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun,” Mao Zedong observed in his 1938 speech on “Problems on War and Strategy.” The Chinese communist leader, whose dystopian Marxism would later cost the lives of tens of millions of innocent citizens, failed to grasp another key development: that “political freedom” can also “grow out of the barrel of a gun.”

After all, it was the American military might that, in the words of US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), served as the “arsenal of democracy” during World War II. In his inimitable speech on Dec. 29, 1940, FDR urged his fellow Americans to support a historic arms buildup at home, since the country “must have more ships, more guns, more planes—more of everything,” if it were to make the world safe for democracy.

Absent America’s entry into the global conflict, the world would have been likely dominated by a disturbing cocktail of the totalitarian ideologies of fascism and communism.

At the height of the Cold War, the Portuguese armed forces launched the completely bloodless Carnation Revolution (1973), which ended the Estado Novo (New State) dictatorship of Marcello Caetano. Shortly after, the Portuguese generals oversaw the country’s peaceful transition to a robust democracy, unleashing what Samuel Huntington termed as the “Third Wave” of democratization around the world. The arc of democratic opening culminated, of course, in the collapse of the Berlin Wall and, shortly after, the end of the Soviet Empire in 1991.

It is precisely within this context that one should understand the role of the Armed Forces of the Philippines during the so-called “People Power” revolutions in 1986 and 2001. In both cases, where no blood was shed and democratic freedoms were secured, what actually occurred were what historians call “civilian-backed coups.”

The Marcos and Estrada ousters were brought about by, above all, the AFP’s withdrawal of institutional support from the civilian leadership. Absent that crucial element, namely the constructive role of the military, it was unlikely that the forces of democracy would have prevailed.

No wonder, then, that our Constitution aptly identifies our brave soldiers and patriotic generals as the protector of “the people” as well as “the State,” rather than of specific regimes or administrations. Their ultimate loyalty is to the country’s democratic constitutional order and the welfare of the Filipino citizens.

And this is why the AFP has categorically turned down President Duterte’s call for the establishment of either a revolutionary government or a military junta, both of which negate the spirit of democracy.

Despite Mr. Duterte’s rapprochement with China, the AFP has repeatedly called for a more robust defense of our territorial interests and sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea, because of its integral role in protecting the “sovereignty of the State and the integrity of the national territory.”

My confidence in their continued commitment to these fundamental constitutional duties has been further strengthened by a series of conscious and commendable efforts at strengthening the military’s integrity, beginning during the Ramos administration and culminating under the Aquino administration. Under patriotic generals such as the 44th AFP chief Emmanuel Trinidad Bautista, robust security sector reform initiatives, including the Internal Peace and Security Plan “Bayanihan,” have made our military more professional and democratically oriented than ever.

As a result, it’s unlikely that any civilian political leader will be able to exercise what political scientists call “subjective control” over the defense establishment in the foreseeable future.

Recent years have also seen a much-deserved expansion in the basic benefits and salaries of the AFP personnel, who have suffered from decades of underfunding, internal bureaucratic deficits and untrammeled insurgencies in the peripheries. While Aquino focused on modernizing the AFP’s basic capabilities, Mr. Duterte, in turn, has almost doubled the basic benefits and salaries of our soldiers. As the Constitution makes it clear, the above initiatives “shall be a prime concern of the State.”

Both administrations have also commendably facilitated the peace process in Mindanao, which will strengthen the AFP’s ability to address external threats. The AFP has effectively become the prime guardian of our democracy and sovereignty.

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