The end to the insurgencies plaguing the Philippines—hopefully by early the next decade—should herald a new era for the Philippine military.
Now more of a constabulary because of its counter-insurgency role, the Armed Forces of the Philippines will have to evolve into a totally new fighting animal, one poised to do combat on foreign shores. This impending revolution in Philippine military affairs will place dominant emphasis on conventional warfighting.
Intrinsic to this revolution will be the addition of new tools of the trade such as "big ticket" weapons systems; new combat doctrines and learning the "ABCs" of the new conventional war.
Conventional war, however, is evolving into something akin to the guerilla war in which the Philippine Army is most experienced. The "new" conventional war (or the 360 degree battlefield) will be one fought by “lighter” conventional forces backed by massive firepower; pervaded by computer technology and buttressed by civic action.
This new Philippine fighting force must have a reason for being. Peacekeeping will be that reason.
The Philippines has been a leading provider of troops and police for United Nations' peacekeeping missions since the end of World War 2.
The Philippines' armed commitment to world peace began and reached a peak in the Korean War (1950-53) to which the Philippines sent some 7,500 combat soldiers as part of the 21-country United Nations Command (UNC). The Philippines suffered some 500 casualties in the Korean "police action" against the communist North Koreans and Chinese.
The 55 years since fighting ended in the Korean War have seen non-stop Philippine participation in UN peacekeeping. In 2007, the Philippines pledged more troops and police for UN peacekeeping efforts worldwide.
The Philippines is one of Asia’s top troop-contributing countries. Over 600 Filipino soldiers and police officers are deployed in Afghanistan, Cote d'Ivoire, Georgia, Haiti, recently independent Kosovo, Liberia, Timor-Leste and Sudan.
In 2007, the Philippines became the world’s largest contributor of police officers to UN peacekeeping operations. In 2006, the Philippines was the 27th largest contributor of troops and police to UN peacekeeping.
But for the future Philippine armed force to fight effectively as part of an armed UN coalition means it has to read from the same page as its allies, and here lies the greatest challenge.
Future conflict in whatever form will demand huge technological resources not possessed by the Philippines. The country, therefore, will have to rely on foreign technology for C4I (command, communications, control, computers and intelligence) capabilities.
The Philippine experience in the Korean War--the last conventional war fought by this country--is revealing in this aspect. All the five Battalion Combat Teams (BCTs) sent to fight in the Korean War were veterans of the bloody campaign against the communist Huks.
Many of the men in these BCTs had fought alongside the Americans against the Japanese. The BCTs belonging to the Philippine Expeditionary Force to Korea (PEFTOK) were armed with U.S. weapons. Its men were trained in conventional U.S. tactics; its officers further trained in Fort Benning, Fort Knox and other specialist military schools in the USA.
Despite these advantages, the Philippines had its share of difficulties integrating into the United Nations Command that was dominated by the United States. The tendency of the U.S. to rely on its own soldiers, despite most of these men being greenhorns, also led to a misappreciation of the combat capabilities of the Philippine BCTs. It was an understandable but regrettable attitude.
Any future coalition conflict under the aegis of the United Nations will almost certainly be dominated by the United States. But integrating with the U.S. and its "wired" armed forces will be a mammoth problem for the Philippines.
The British have sought to mitigate this problem by adopting a new warfighting doctrine similar to the U.S.' Objective Force concept. The British are also developing the lighter and air portable warfighting vehicles demanded by their new concept of war.
The simplest solution for the Philippines would be a repeat of the Korean War model. The Filipino soldier can serve as a reliable ally; one that can be counted on to fulfill his mission as far as is humanly possible.
In time and with increasing experience, the Filipino soldier will become a "World Warrior/Peacekeeper," a fitting extension of the Filipino's current role as a "World Worker."
As the foot marching Roman legionnaires gave way to the Byzantine "cataphracts"--the magnificent armored cavalry that enabled the Eastern Roman Empire to defeat its eastern and western foes--so, too, must the Filipino World Warrior/Peacekeeper evolve into a force highly capable in both light infantry and mobile combat.
The challenge for the next Philippine government is to decide on an evolutionary path for the Philippine military. The Philippines' rise to the status of a great Asian economic power is inevitable.
History is on its side. And history has shown that credible military power can only flow from significant economic power.
Both are within the country's grasp--at last.
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