Philippine Strategic Culture: Continuity in the Face of Changing Regional Dynamics

Abstract

Philippine strategic culture has traditionally been characterized by its emphasis on internal security through asymmetrical warfare in confronting military challenges and a reliance on alliance in addressing the country's strategic inadequacies. Philippine strategic culture is rooted in the country's archipelagic geography and isolation from continental Asia, its colonial history, and liberal-democratic political system. It is a culture long shaped by the strategic decisions of a small group of elites – about 400 families that have dominated local politics, economy, and society since the Philippines became independent in 1946. Their preferences have been reflected in the Armed Forces of the Philippines' (AFP) seven-decade campaign against insurgent groups, lack of conventional capabilities, low defence budget, and dependence on the United States for military assistance and security guarantees. The changing dynamics of security in the Asia-Pacific region and strained Philippine–China relations due to the South China Sea dispute suggest the possibility of erosion of these strategic preferences. The doctrinal shift from internal security to territorial defence has gained momentum. Careful analysis of the Aquino administration's efforts to refocus the AFP from internal security to external defence shows greater continuity than discontinuity in Philippine strategic culture. Despite grand claims, government plans to acquire a new weapons system and to build up the navy and the air force are designed only to achieve a modest deterrence posture. Philippines policy remains consistent with deeply embedded strategic cultural orientations.

Notes

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3. Ibid., p. 8.

4. National Security Council, National Security Policy 2011–2016 (Quezon City: National Security Council, April 2011), p. 39.

5. Charles A. Kupchan, The Vulnerability of Empire (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1994), p. 5.

6. Ibid., p. 46.

7. Ibid., p. 48.

8. Edward N. Luttwak, Strategy: The Logic of War and Peace (London: The Belknap Press, 2001), p. 118.

9. Robert E. Harkavy and Stephanie G. Neuman, Warfare and the Third World (New York: Palgrave, 2011), p. 192.

10. Ibid., p. 192.

11. Laura Lee Junker, Raiding, Trading, and Feasting: The Political Economy of Philippine Chiefdom (Honolulu, Hawai'i: University of Hawai'i Press, 1999).

12. Linda Newson, Conquest and Pestilence in the Early Spanish Philippines (Honolulu, Hawai'i: University of Hawai'i Press, 2009), p. 58.

13. Cesar Pobre, History of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (Manila: New Day, 2000), p. 2.

14. See Alfred McCoy, ‘The Colonial Origins of Philippine Military Traditions’, in Florentino Rodao Garcia and Felice Noelle Rodriquez (eds), The Philippine Revolution of 1896: Ordinary Lives in Extraordinary Times (Quezon City: Ateneo De Manila University, 2001), pp. 83–124.

15. Pobre, History of the Armed Forces (note 13), p. 13.

16. McCoy, ‘The Colonial Origins’ (note 14), pp. 91–106.

17. Kathline Anne S. Tolosa, ‘Owning Sovereignty’, Digest: A Forum for Security and Defense Issues (4th Quarter 2008), p. 6.

18. AFP Modernization Board, Annual Accomplishment Report 2006 (Quezon City: General Headquarters Armed Forces of the Philippines, 2007), p. 1.

19. Tolosa, ‘Owning Sovereignty’ (note 17), p. 6.

20. Kupchan, The Vulnerability of Empire (note 5), p. 6.

21. Jeffrey S. Lantis and Darryl Howlett, ‘Strategic Culture’, in John Baylis, James J. Wirtz, and Colin Gray (eds), Strategy in the Contemporary World (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), p. 96.

22. David G. Timberman, A Changeless Land: Continuity and Change in Philippine Politics (Pasir Panjang, Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1991), p. 44.

23. Ibid., p. 44.

24. Alfred McCoy, ‘Anarchy of Families: The Historiography of State and Family in the Philippines’, in Alfred W. McCoy (ed.), An Anarchy of Families: State and Family in the Philippines (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1993), p. 13.

25. Timberman, A Changeless Land (note 22), pp. 44–5.

26. Ibid., p. 45.

27. Donald J. Berlin, Before Gringo: History of the Philippine Military: 1830–1972 (Manila: Anvil Press, 2008), p. 145.

28. Noel M. Morada and Christopher Collier, ‘The Philippines: State versus Society’, in Muthiah Alagappa (ed.), Asian Security Practice: Material and Ideational Influences (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001), p. 550.

29. Commodore Ronnie Gil L. Gavan (Philippine Coast Guard), ‘Organized National Engagement (ONE) at Sea: Optimizing the State's Option for Maritime Security’, Digest, Vol. 19. No. 1 (2012), p. 10.

30. Ibid., p. 10.

31. AFP Modernization Board, Annual Accomplishment Report 2006 (note 18), p. 1.

32. This can be grasped from Senate hearings and proceedings of the AFP Modernization Program. See Liaison Office of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, ‘AFP Modernization Act’, Camp Emilio Aguinaldo, General Headquarters, AFP, November 1996.

33. AFP Modernization Board, Annual Accomplishment Report 2007 (note 18), p. 5.

34. Morada and Collier, ‘The Philippines’ (note 28), p. 53.

35. Raymond G. Quilop, ‘Revisiting the Visiting Forces Agreement’, Digest: A Forum for Security and Defense Issues (2nd and 3rd Quarter 2010), pp. 17–18.

36. Herrboy Aquino, ‘An Analysis of Two Key Security Challenges Facing the Philippine Republic over the Next Ten Years’, Digest: A Forum for Security and Defense Issues (3rd Quarter 2010), p. 51.

37. Tolosa, ‘Owing Sovereignty’ (note 17), p. 7.

38. Noel L. Patajo, ‘Measuring the Cost of Insurgency’, Digest: A Forum for Security and Defense Issues (3rd Quarter 2006), p. 8.

39. Dencio S. Acop, ‘Assessing the Expanded Role of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in Nation Building’, Asia-Pacific Social Science Review, Vol. 6, No. 2 (2006), p. 146.

40. Ibid., p. 146.

41. Patajo, ‘Measuring the Cost of Insurgency’ (note 38), p. 10.

42. Kathleen Mae M. Villamin, ‘Defending Philippine Territorial Integrity in the 21st Century’, Digest: A Forum for Security and Defense Issues (1st and 2nd Quarter 2009), p. 8.

43. ‘Philippine Air Defense Compromised by Fighter Decommissioning Officer’, BBC Monitoring Asia-Pacific, 3 October 2005, p. 1.

44. ‘Philippine Air Force Restructured to Focus on Internal Security’, BBC Monitoring Asia-Pacific, 3 April 2005.

45. Raymond G. Quilop, Darwin Moya, and Czarina Ordinario-Ducusin, Putting an End to Insurgency: An Assessment of the AFP's Internal Security Operations (Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City: Office of Strategic and Special Studies, 2007), pp. 42–3.

46. Office of Plans and Program, ‘AFP's Capability Assessment’, presented at the National Defense and Security Review Module Priming Session, Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City, National Defense College of the Philippines, 3–6 September 2007, p. 25.

47. Ibid., p. 23.

48. Ben Reid, ‘Bush and the Philippines after September 11: Hegemony, Mutual Opportunism and Democratic Retreat’, in Mark Besson (ed.), Bush and Asia: America's Evolving Relations with East Asia (New York: Routledge, 2006), p. 135.

49. Anonymous, ‘China Says Philippines Harming Sovereignty, Interests in the Spratlys’, BBC Monitoring Asia-Pacific (9 June 2011), 1, at http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=64&did=2369715781&Src

50. Carl Thayer, ‘China's New Wave of Aggressive Assertiveness in the South China Sea’, International Journal of China Studies, Vol. 2, No. 3 (December 2011), p. 563.

51. ‘China Says Philippines Harming Sovereignty, Interests in Spratlys’, BBC Monitoring Asia-Pacific, 9 June 2011, p. 1.

52. ‘China Wants Philippines to Seek Permission before Spratlys Oil Search’, BBC Monitoring Asia-Pacific, 10 June 2011, p. 1.

53. William B. Depasupil, ‘Armed Forces to Spend P14b to Upgrade Naval, Aerial Defense’, Tribune Business News, 29 June 2011, p. 1.

54. Secretary of National Defense Voltaire T. Gazmin, Defense Planning Guidance, 2013–2018 (Quezon City: Department of National Defense, 11 October 2011), pp. 11–16.

55. ‘Philippines Spends US$387 million on Armed Forces Upgrade’, BBC Monitoring Asia-Pacific, 16 January 2012, p. 1.

56. ‘AFP Modernization Program in Full Swing-Gazmin’, The Philippines News Agency, 18 March 2012, p. 1.

57. ‘New AFP Chief Vows to Focus on Territorial Defense, MILF Peace Talks’, Philippine News Agency, 13 December 2011, p. 1.

58. ‘Philippines Mulls Reorganization of Military to Boost Territorial Defense’, BBC Monitoring Asia-Pacific, 2 January 2012, p. 1.

59. National Security Council, National Security Policy 2011–2016 (Quezon City: National Security Council, April 2011), p. 39.

60. Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Armed Forces of the Philippines: Strategic Intent (Quezon City: Camp Aguinaldo, 2011), p. 27.

61. Interview with AFP Officers, Foreign Service Institute, 17 September 2010.

62. Ibid.

63. Jose Renan C. Suarez, ‘The Imperatives of Defending the Philippines and Air-Defense Partnership’, Paper presented at the Air Power Symposium 2012, SMX Convention Center, Pasay City, Philippines, 21 June 2012, p. 6 (unpublished material).

64. Ibid., p. 6.

65. Jon Grevatt, ‘Philippines to Hasten Recreation of Dedicated Combat Wing with Ex-USAF F-16 Purchase’, Jane Defense Industry, Vol. 29, No. 1 (January 2012), p. 1.

66. Aurea Calica, ‘Aquino: Government Can Now Afford to Buy New Fighter Jets’, The Philippine Star, 17 May 2012, p. 2.

67. Aurea Calica, Äquino, ‘Government Can Now Afford to buy New Fighter Jets’, The Philippine Star (17 May 2012), p. 2.

68. Interview with a ranking official of the National Security Council, National Security Council, Quezon City, 12 February 2013.

69. Ibid.

70. Enhanced strategic engagements with Washington also enabled Manila to establish de facto security relations with other American alliance partners in East Asia, such as Japan, South Korea, and Australia. Japan will provide the Philippine Coast Guard with 12 patrol boats to strengthen the country's maritime security. The Philippines is buying 12 F/A Golden Eagles fighter planes from South Korea through a government-to-government procurement. The Philippines recently signed a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with Australia to boost security operations with Australian defence forces in conducting joint training and operations such as Coast Watch South and Maritime Training Activity Lumbas. For details on the AFP engagement with other US bilateral allies, see Gazmin, Defense Planning Guidance, 2013–2018 (note 53), p. 18 and Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Armed Forces of the Philippines (note 59), p. 34.

71. Alastair McIndoe, ‘Manila Ups the Ante in Spratly Tussle’, Tribune Business News, 14 June 2011, p. 2.

72. Greg Torode, ‘US under Pressure over Sea Dispute: Washington Has Stopped Short of Specifics on its Position under a Defense Pact with Manila on Recent Incursion by China in the South China Sea’, South China Morning Post, 17 June 2011, p. 2.

73. Bernice Camille V. Bauzon, ‘US Ready to Arm Philippines’, Tribune Business News, 27 June 2011, p. 1.

74. ‘Philippine Navy to Acquire Largest Ship in Inventory’, GMA News, 23 January 2011, p. 1.

75. Sheldon Simon, ‘US–Southeast Asia Relations: Dismay at Thai–Cambodia Skirmishes’, Comparative Connections: A Triannual E-Journal on East Asian Bilateral Relations (May 2011), p. 5.

76. ‘Philippine Military Looks Forward to Arrival of New Warship’, BBC Monitoring Asia-Pacific, 25 August 2011, p. 2.

77. P. Ervin A. Manalo, ‘A Multi-Purpose Vessel for the Philippine Navy: Options and Prospects’, Digest: A Forum for Security and Defense Issues (4th Quarter 2008), p. 15.

78. Sheldon Simon, ‘US–Southeast Asia Relations: Deep in South China Sea Diplomacy’, Comparative Connections: A Triannual E-Journal on East Asian Bilateral Relations (September 2011), p. 5.

79. Philippine–US Mutual Defense Board/Security Engagement Board Co-Chairman, 2011 Mutual Defense Board/Engagement Board Strategic Guidelines, 16 August 2011, p. 1 (unpublished material).

80. Floyd Whaley, ‘Philippines in Talk to Expand US Military Ties’, The International Herald Tribune, 27 January 2012, pp. 1 and 3.

81. Cheryl Pellerin, ‘Carter: Strategic Guidance is Compass for 2013’, American Forces Press Service, 13 February 2012, p. 2.

82. Phillip C. Saunders, ‘The Rebalance to Asia: US–China Relations and Regional Security’, Strategic Forum, No. 281 (August 2013), p. 7.

83. Ibid., p. 9.

84. Floyd Whaley, ‘US is Negotiating Expanded Military Role in the Philippines’, International Herald Tribune, 13 July 2013, p. 3.

85. ‘Philippines/United States: Philippines–US Negotiations on Increased US Troops Not Yet a Done Deal’, Asia-News Monitor, 15 August 2013, p. 1.