About two weeks ago, the issue of reviving the defunct Philippine Constabulary and the Reserve officer Training Corps came out. It was President Duterte who brought up the idea about the constabulary. He wants it to be the one to go after PNP scalawags. This was after receiving some flak for saying that the Armed Forces will go after corrupt PNP personnel.
Former President Ramos said that we should just let the Philippine Constabulary rest in peace. He does not believe there is a need to resurrect it.
Setting nostalgia aside, is there a case for reviving the constabulary? The PC was organized during the American colonial period on Aug. 8, 1901 to suppress brigandage and the remnants of the Philippine revolutionary forces still scattered over the country that did not require military responses. Another reason was also the absence of police forces in many municipalities throughout the country. All the officers were American at first but gradually, Filipinos were appointed until 1917 when Rafael Crame was named as its chief and served as its head for ten years. It was the longest stewardship until General Fidel Ramos broke the record.
For the next 90 years, the constabulary performed its mission with pride and distinction. Because the 1987 Constitution mandated the establishment of a national police force that is civilian in character, the constabulary was abolished and all its personnel were absorbed by the new Philippine National Police. The Medal of Valor, the highest award for bravery and gallantry in action was started by the Constabulary giving the first award in 1902. It went on to pacify Mindanao and the rest of the country, putting down many local uprisings. At the height of its strength, the PC consisted of about 33,000 officers and men. It was a unique organization because although performing law enforcement functions, it was also a branch of the Armed Forces. There were few like it in the world.
The two that can come close to it are the Guardia Civil of Spain and the Carabiniere of Italy. In order for the Police to be effective, it must be tailored to the prevailing peace-and-order situation. In other words, the Police must be organized, equipped and trained in order to be able to perform its functions effectively. The reason why the PC did so well in its formative years was because it was the ideal Police organization to the prevailing conditions.
Today, we have to ask whether the PNP is equal to the job at hand or whether there is a need to bring back the constabulary as the national police force and return the municipal police to the control of the local executives. There is really nothing intrinsically wrong with the PNP but it badly needs reform to bring it to the 21st century. It is years behind the times and unless real reform is instituted soon, it will surely be beyond redemption. For one, it is more political now than ever before. For instance, with the selection of Bato dele Rosa as chief, all his classmates took over all the so called juicy positions leaving almost all officers who graduated from the PMA ahead of them effectively on floating status to simply wait for retirement. Morale is therefore low but no one dares to complain. Also, 25 years on, the PNP has not been able to find its true identity. Is the PNP as it is currently organized and managed a civilian organization masquerade as a military organization or other the way around? As of now, regardless of what the PNP says, the outfit is in fact run as a military organization. Unless the PNP really knows what it really wants and adjust accordingly, it will always be an organization that is neither military nor police.
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The revival of the ROTC on the other hand has generated more support. The prevailing defense doctrine is to maintain a small standing while relying more on the so-called citizen army composed of reserves coming from the citizenry. One of the rationale behind this is that it is very expensive to maintain large armies.
In the past, the reserve force came mainly from the graduates of the ROTC program and the yearly output of 20 year old trainees who are called from time to time for an 18 month military stint. During the height of the MNLF secessionist movement in the 1970s, the 20-year-old trainees provided the needed manpower until the AFP was able to increase its strength to meet the emergency. Now, both programs are gone and it does make sense to come up with a program to fill this vacuum. The size of a reserve force depends on the perceived threats. In our case, it is probably prudent to have a reserve force which is twice or thrice our standing army. This will then be divided into categories like ready and standby reserve.
We have to have a reserve force that can be readily called, armed and equip to fight at a moment’s notice. After all, the first duty of every able bodied citizen is to fight for his or her country. And due to budgetary limitations as always, this reserve force will have to come from a revived ROTC program. But if ever the ROTC and the 20 year trainee programs are brought back, both must be properly and carefully studied before being implemented to avoid costly errors. It is puzzling why this idea was not thought of earlier because it is one of those that is absolutely necessary in any defense establishment.