Security Challenges of the Philippine Archipelago

Summary

The Concept and Practice of National Security

In the Philippines, the concept of national security has traditionally been understood primarily in terms of defence against internal challenges to the government and political system. Notwithstanding the ravages the country suffered directly as a result of external aggression during the Pacific War, the defence establishment trained the bulk of its efforts against internal problems. These were the communist rebellion since the 1950s, Muslim secessionism in the 1970s to the present, and — for a brief period during the post-Marcos transition — rightist coup plotters among the military's own ranks.

The responsibility for defence against external threats during the post-WWII and Cold War periods was entrusted to the United States, which from 1951 had maintained a Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) with the Philippines. The United States kept a huge military presence at Clark Air Base and Subic Naval Base in Luzon. The MDT and the presence of American bases were deemed sufficient deterrence against a revival of Japanese military adventurism, or similar expansive aspirations attributed at the time to the Soviet Union, China, or communist Indochina. Philippine participation in the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO; 1954–77) likewise demonstrated the staunchly pro-U.S., anti-communist stance of the country at that time.

Meanwhile the domestic communist and Muslim rebellions thrived, rooted as they were in poverty, perceptions of social injustice, and political repression. The failure of successive governments to resolve these challenges through purely military means contributed to the evolution of a “total” or “comprehensive” approach to counter-insurgency. The new approach relied increasingly on community-based civic action and economic development programmes to address the causes rather than merely the symptoms of discontent. Simultaneously, however, counter-insurgency operations by the Armed Forces of the Philippines continued to be based on attrition warfare, thus taking a huge toll on lives and property.

A conjunction of watershed developments from the fall of President Marcos in 1986 helped drastically change both the internal and external security environments of the country.