Reynaldo O. Arcilla
DURING the US Independence Day celebrations recently, US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires John Law was quoted as saying his country and the Philippines were working “very hard” to reach a “satisfactory arrangement” to keep the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) alive.
I’d say the US is working “harder” – what with its incessant and tantalizing efforts to make it “difficult” for us to finally reject the US’ neglect of what was expected of it under the Mutual Defense Treaty, coupled with the sudden urge to donate to us Covid-19 vaccines.
Take, for instance, the unprecedented move taking the semblance of “modernizing” our armed forces with offers to sell us brand-new jet fighters, helicopters, missiles and what-have-you which we can hardly afford or use to defend ourselves effectively against better-armed aggressors. Eric Sayers, a visiting fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, said it appeared to be “a proactive effort by Washington to ensure the United States remains the security partner of choice for Manila.”
Unfortunately, two military aircraft we acquired from our supposedly very close ally just cost the lives of some 60 of our airmen, 53 from a refurbished C-130 and 7 from a Black Hawk helicopter prompting Sen. Imee Marcos to urge the government to stop buying from now on what she called “flying coffins” from you-know-who.
“Stop buying flying coffins! No more soldiers’ widows and orphans!” she said.
On the other hand, Sen. Richard Gordon tweeted: “This has been the fourth crash of PAF’s aircraft with mass casualties. In January, seven were left dead after the Bukidnon crash. In April, a pilot was left dead in Bohol. In June, 6 died in Tarlac. And today in Sulu, at least 17 (sic) are dead. Are we buying defective craft with the people’s money?”
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A Tausug woman said she saw only one set of the side wheels of the C-130 military plane protruding while descending towards the airport before it crashed Sunday in Sulu province.
According to a Philippine Star report, “Alicia Jamdan, residing in Barangay Bangcal in Patikul, near the spot where the Hercules C-130 plane full of soldiers fell and burst into flames, told Catholic Station DXOM via a phone-patched interview she is certain the large Hercules C-130 aircraft crashed due to a mechanical problem.”
“We could see from our village planes landing and taking off from the nearby Jolo airport. It was my first time to see a plane landing with an incomplete set of wheels coming out while going down on the runway,” Jamdan reportedly said.
Question: Will the black box be able to tell us what Jamdan allegedly saw? If so, will we be told about it?
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The question now being asked in many quarters is, why the change of attitude on the part of the US on the matter of our acquiring more modern military equipment from it?
The answer: The sudden realization that it needed its presence here on our soil, now more than ever, mainly due to the growing “threat” of a Chinese domination of the South China Sea.
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Carried away perhaps by his eagerness to impress upon his audience, the US expressed desire to retain the VFA, Law invoked the saying among mostly Filipino hoi polloi – “Ang tunay na magkaibigan, walang iwanan.” (“Walang iwanan” means “no abandonment of friends,” especially in times of crises.)
Perhaps the fellow was born after the Second World War and never read or heard about the famous words of Gen. Douglas MacArthur – “I shall return” – before leaving us at the mercy of the Japanese invaders.
More recently, Law conveniently forgot when we asked the US to do something about the seizure by China of reefs and shoals in our territorial waters and exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea and converting them into military garrisons complete with airstrips and missile silos, we were told smack on our faces it is “neutral” when it comes to territorial disputex.
Those two incidents, Mr. Law, are examples of the opposite of “walang iwanan”.
In any case, the US may not even have another chance to leave us again if, a big if, President Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte really meant what he told the US, in no uncertain terms, to “leave us alone” during his televised address to the people last May 14.
The news was carried on May 16, 2021 only by this paper (The Manila Times) and the Philippine News Agency. None of the mainstream media where Yellowtards and their foreign supporters hold sway published it.
Digong also vowed in the same address to never allow the US to impose (again) “imperialistic might” on the Philippines. He also demanded our country be given the “dignity of being a true republic.”
“Maski na hindi mo ako bigyan ng bagong armas, okay lang ‘yun tutal wala naman tayong kalaban. So, kung hindi tayo makipag-away, we do not fight with anybody, there’s really no point in acquiring ballistic missiles. We just ask to be left alone and live in peace,” he added.
The bottom line is the presence of foreign troops and military bases on our soil will only serve as a magnet for attack by an enemy of the US with whom it is in armed conflict and result, in the words of Digong, in the “annihilation of the Filipino race.”
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Retired Lt. Gen. Antonio E. Sotelo on national security:
The following very enlightening article, titled “Why the entire national security apparatus is ailing,” was written by retired Lt. Gen. Antonio E. Sotelo, a genuine hero of EDSA 1 and former commander of the Philippine Air Force. In the interest of the common weal, we have decided to reproduce it here in full:
“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, i.e., the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP).
Was there anything wrong? Not at all, after all PMA graduates were well-trained and well-selected. They come from the best of our youth, trained by the best military school. But however, good it was, there is a bad side. It was the beginning of the military dynasty in the national security apparatus that today they hold the monopoly of power.
That monopoly of power has placed the PMA grads in almost all key positions which has split the officers’ corps in two; one for them and the other for the 2nd class officers who came from the ROTC but occupy 70 percent of the officer corps.
With this structure, it is easy to see morale has 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 check and balance 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 to serve that all-important doctrine of check and balance. Instead, the PMA was reinvented to become a tri-service academy. The result: more of the same. The graduates continue 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 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. Sadly, there is nothing to provide check and balance.”