IF WE’RE to go by the provisions of the 1987 Constitution, it is the Armed Forces of the Philippines that is the protector of the people and the State, and its goal is to secure the sovereignty of the State and the integrity of our national territory.
But we know by now that national security should not just be the concern of the military and the political leadership, but also of the other sectors in society, including the business sector and civil society or the organized citizenry.
It is also known as the whole-of-society approach, and Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. wants business leaders to help the government in crafting “creative financing solutions” to ease the financial burden on the government in implementing the military’s modernization program.
He mentioned this in his recent remarks before members of the Management Association of the Philippines, well aware that trillions of pesos are needed to fund the continuing modernization of the AFP even as the government must also spend for infrastructure, social services, education, and other priorities.
Teodoro emphasized the need to find off-budget, nontraditional financing sources for modernization, instead of the old Bases Conversion and Development Authority or the BCDA model where government relied on selling land to finance military modernization.
Asking the business sector to assist in the modernization of the military is a step in the right direction, as it would limit the size of amortizations the national government would have to make to finance an updated acquisition plan for Re-Horizon 3, the last stage in the modernization program of the AFP that’s expected to cost about P2 trillion.
The updated acquisition plan calls for the purchase of multi-role fighters, radars, frigates, missile systems, and rescue helicopters needed for the “Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept.”
This plan would allow the Philippines “to project power into areas where we must, by Constitutional fiat and duty, protect and preserve our resources” amid growing maritime tensions between Manila and Beijing in the South China Sea, Teodoro explained.
The Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept would project the AFP’s defensive capabilities to secure not only the land base of the Philippines but its exclusive economic zone and other areas where we have jurisdiction.
It is entirely correct for the government to ask the support of the private sector to develop a self-reliant defense posture to deter any threat to our national sovereignty and territorial integrity.
We should not waver in our resolve to stand together with other countries in support of a rules-based international order and to maintain peace and stability in this part of the world.
