The Armed Forces of the Philippines is taking the right step in shifting its efforts from internal security operations (ISO) to external ones (ESO).
The shift is nothing less than tectonic, as it rearranges the priorities of our entire military from its previous search-and-destroy operations against a two-pronged enemy: Maoist rebels throughout the country and Muslim separatists in southern Philippines.
Recent news reports tell us that the military appears to be gaining the upper hand against the communist-led New People’s Army, with the latter having been decimated from a peak strength of 25,000 guerrillas in the 1980s to an all-time low of just 1,800 operating in only two guerrilla fronts.
On the other hand, the Muslim separatist movement in Mindanao has been effectively contained through political negotiations that allowed them to exercise autonomy under the central government.
With internal security threats now under virtual control and our next-door neighbor claiming ownership even of our Exclusive Economic Zone in the South China Sea, the national government should build a credible defense posture capable of upholding national sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The AFP should be able to launch increased aerial and surface maritime patrols through modern air and naval assets and well-trained ground forces.
At this point, our military can already deploy additional surface patrol ships to increase its presence in the Kalayaan Group of Islands about 90 percent of the time, which is a dramatic increase from the baseline of 30 percent in 2022.
The increase in AFP presence in the area has allowed them to monitor sea lines of communications and to put up monitoring stations/detachments to detect and monitor foreign ships, track, and subject them to interdiction operations.
We are glad the AFP has improved its capabilities and presence in strategic locations with the effective presence not only in the Kalayaan Group of Islands but also in the Batanes Group of Islands in the north and in Tawi-Tawi province in the country’s southernmost tip.
The expansion of AFP presence throughout the archipelago is being complemented by initiatives to establish partnerships with other countries that will allow the military to leverage its capabilities through information sharing and joint and combined maritime exercises.
The recalibration of the AFP focus from internal security to external defense is definitely needed right now since Chinese ships have been showing aggressive behavior and openly confronting our Coast Guard and Navy vessels through verbal warnings, the use of water cannons and dangerous maneuvers in disputed areas.
We must stand up to China’s gunboat diplomacy in the South China Sea, or else end up losing what is ours according to a rules-based international order that our next-door neighbor conveniently ignores.