No need for 6000 more AFP troops

(Penned on January 9, 2008; Published in Zamboanga Today on January 10, 2008.)

The Philippines does not need six thousand more troops to address the insurgency and lawlessness problems in the country today. What Filipinos need is a stronger and smarter existing defense force.

The recent pronouncement of National Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro seeking the approval of the Commander-in-Chief Gloria Arroyo to augment six thousand more soldiers to the Philippine armed forces continues to draw reactions from the civilian populace, particularly in some sectors here in southern Philippines.

This perceived need of the Armed Forces of the Philippines for an increase in quantity of soldiers should be reviewed carefully by the President.

A stronger defense force should be read from a qualitative light. We need military commanders who can plan strategic decisions on keeping peace and order in localities with a fair if not comprehensive understanding of the Filipino people’s culture as well as that of those resistant to government plans and programs. We don’t need war-freak, image-concerned and publicity-wanting men in the military. The most noble soldiers are those who can keep the peace without a drop of blood shed, winning the hearts and minds of the enemy without having to use a single bullet. They are the ones we need.

To have this kind of defense force, a good start would be to cut off corruption in the Philippine military, curtail unnecessary official travels (especially of those who are not supposed to be undertaking foreign government-sponsored trainings abroad), provide more trainings for our soldiers not just for them to learn how to pull the trigger or throw bombs but also for some of our soldiers to act and think human. Or perhaps, to simply think before going out to war. More importantly, our soldiers especially those with the ranks from captains down, should be given more employment benefits—attractive incentives even as basic as quality boots, for them to do better in the battlefield.

After all, isn’t the disgruntled and pathetic situation of low-ranking soldiers the root of the Oakwood Mutiny and The Peninsula siege?

The additional soldiers will but answer the unemployment problem, and that is not the purpose of putting up the Armed Forces of the Philippines as an institution. The Defense Department is not up for a modeling agency, nor an entertainment crew hiring. We need more thinking minds in the Philippine military, who understand the true tenets of peace-building.

If Sun Tzu spoke of war as an art, then winning the enemies and achieving peace without shedding blood should be every existing Filipino soldier’s masterpiece. (Frencie L. Carreon)