By Modesto P. Sa-onoy
One of the justifications for the termination of the Visiting Forces Agreement is that “relying on another country for the defense against enemies would eventually weaken and stagnate the Philippines defense capabilities.” This reasoning seems odd because the very purpose of the VFA is to strengthen our capabilities through a military series of military exercises that allow our forces to learn the latest techniques in warfare and experience the well-studied field tactics using hardware that are not within our means. By learning these things, are we not in fact strengthening our capabilities?
Without these exercises where will our forces learn modern warfare and handle and acquire the latest military science and tactics as well as coordination with friendly forces? Will our insularity help us or is there a plan that joint military exercises will be held with the armies like those of Russia and China who are dedicated to the universalization of communism?
Earlier, president Duterte said he will purchase weapons from Russia, but nothing was heard after that. Perhaps the reality that the change in our weaponry would require huge amounts of money for the retooling of our present armaments.
Secretary Salvador Panelo said, “Our studied action is consistent and pursuant to our chartering an independent foreign policy, with our foreign relations anchored solely on national interest and the general welfare of our people.” Nobody quarrels with that, but does independent foreign policy mean doing things alone? The reality is that no government is truly independent. There is always interdependence without being a puppet government.
Foreign Secretary Teddy Locsin Jr. warned the Senate that the mother 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty will be “useless as a prophylactic against foreign aggression” without the VFA and the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement.
The EDCA enabled the US to skip the Philippine Constitution’s ban on foreign bases, facilities and troops by allowing the temporary rotational use by US servicemen of designated Philippine bases or facilities. But EDCA is useless without VFA.
The MDT, VFA and EDCA may not have produced some super abundance to our military forces, but it cannot be denied that these agreements have contributed considerably to upgrading Philippine military capability, especially in the training of our military officials in the United States. Every Filipino officer hope to be trained in the US and many of those who were fortunate to undergo studies there had brought back new skills, ideas and perspectives that improved our military capability.
Without these advanced training, where will we upgrade our military personnel? In China and in Russia and then they come home to fight the NPA and the communists? Isn’t there a danger that instead of their being trained they will find communism best for the Philippines? Let us not be fooled that when they train in Russia or China the communists will not infiltrate our military establishment.
The warning of Secretary Locsin was unheeded so now we face the prospect of not having any shield from a much powerful armed forces – that of the United States. We are now alone for the picking by China who will be harvesting the fruit of Duterte’s move probably without meaning to. The president seems to some observers to have been “driven by his raw impulses” but that is no consolation.
What the Philippines and the Filipinos should do now is to be prepared for the increased Chinese incursion into Philippine territories knowing the Philippines is no longer able to resist China’s powerful navy.
Some views say dependence on the US stunted the growth of the armed forces of the Philippines. This begs the question: would our armed forces have grown better without alliance with the US and joint training and exercises? Could our armed forces have developed without learning from a technologically and tactically advanced military force as the United States?
If the Europeans had to form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to share knowledge in warfare and military technology, what makes us better than they are? Is insularism better than international cooperation? Alone, do we have the financial capability to upgrade our weaponry, build multi-billion dollars aircraft carriers, tanks and war planes to defend our shores for predators like China? If our government cannot even protect the citizenry from the communist NPA how can isolationism protect this country?
Continued tomorrow.
