Catch All OEF Philippines (till 2012)

[Jedburgh]

The Long War Journal, 17 Oct 07:

To raise them up. Part 2: The role of the Philippines in the Long War

B.A. Patty was recently embedded with the Armed Forces of the Philippines. In part two of his three-part series, Patty examines the the Philippines' role in the Long War.

Zamboanga, Philippines: Colonel David Maxwell is the commanding officer of the US Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines. In a two-hour interview he spoke about counterinsurgency in the Philippines and the larger Long War.....

[B A Patty]

The last part of that series is here:

To raise them up. Part 3: Investing in people

I'm a longtime reader of SWJ. If anyone wants to discuss the series, I'll be happy to do so.

[pinoyme]

Hi:

Interesting.

Comes now the issue. Marcos politicalized what was once a relatively professional Armed Forces of the Philippines.

He also allowed--no, encouraged--AFP officers and men to help themselves to the public coffers--as long as they went along with his politics.

For any long term results, the US will also have to help address these also.

A good number of AFP officers still harbor Bonapartist tendencies. They will have to learn to respect civilian authority once more.

At the same time, their grievances will have to be addressed.

Incidentally, hazing at the Philippine Military Academy will have to be addressed. Much anecdotal evidence suggests that this hazing is what had made many of them torturers and perpetrators of human rights violations during Marcos' dicatatorship.

This helped fuel the Maoist insurgency in the 1970s and 1980s.

As one notorious torturer is reported to have said, and quoted in a book:

"What I did to them (i.e. the torture she committed on political dissidents) was only what was done to me as a plebe in the PMA."

Will the US help address this?

[B A Patty]

I think the answer to your question, "Will the US help address this?" is "Yes, within the context of its overall strategic goals."

The US strategy depends on maintaining at least, and increasing if possible, the GRP/AFP legitimacy in the eyes of the population. There are signs that is working, esp. in the case of Task Force Zamboanga (where the police and AFP work in teams, and therefore watch each other as well as cooperate). US advisors are always working to improve the professionalism of the AFP and police forces for that reason.

That said, this is and has to be a GRP-led and GRP/AFP "out front" issue. The main thing the US can't do is visibly 'push' them in one direction or another. It has to be done through offering training that they're free to accept or reject. They are accepting it, but it is a gradual process.

[CalmSeas]

Just ran acros this site & consequently this thread.

Having been in & around this country for the past 30-years & a resident for the last 10-years, I just to comment on your article (Part 3 would not open by the way).

First, the AFP has no desires whatsoever for the "War" to end in Mindanao,or for the NPA threat, to come to a conclusion. Why, you might ask? Simple... GREED. Dig deeper into the AFP/PNP brass & follow the money (USAID) & I would wager that you would be hard-pressed to find a poor retired officer...quite the contrast to the poverty that AFP/PNP enlisted live in.

Secondly, I would challenge your assumptions that the PMA is compareable with West Point, or that there is a strong AFP NCO Corps...it is just simply false. You were obviously, as with all embedded journalist, shown what they wanted you to see.

As for Mindanao...the majority of Filipinos (yes, they are considered seperate from the Bangsa Moros) could care less what happens to the Muslims in the South, or everywhere else in the PI. You must scratch the surface & discover the REAL Philippine culture in order to break down the psychological make-up of the Filipino psyche. They could care less about their country, as they are only concerned, in the following order, with Self, family, tribe (Ilocano, Bisaya, etc.). They only start shouting "Pinoy Ako" when it is in reference to some foreign perceived insult such as the "Desperate Housewives" slant. Yes, absurdly patriotic.

What is the real underlying factor that keeps this country in terminal poverty? A deeply ingrained culture of CORRUPTION! As one Filipino General (Lim, I think) wrote: "The Filipino cannot help to be corrupt...it is in his blood." When Filipinos see Gloria sitting up in malacanang doing her best to make the Marcos' look like petty thieves, you soon hear them saying "If the the President can steal from the country, then why not me?"

While the U.S.military is trying to regain some sort of foot-hold in the Southern Philippines, the DoS is blindly throwing the money at the problem, thus emboldening Philippine authorities to steal even more. All the while the Chinese must be laughing their ass off. They know how to play the game here in SE Asia. They will continue to "LOAN" the Philippines $Billions$, thus establishing a debt that the Philippines cannot even begin to pay back. This is how they will eventually regain control of the South China Sea (oil drilling rights, etc.) and continue to expand their influence over the area.

On one final note: keep an eye out for a land deal for peace coming from Gloria. She is on record as saying that ARMM (Autonomus Region of Muslim Mindanao) will be given a very huge chunk of land as part of the Malaysian (Muslim) peace brokered deal.

[Sarajevo071]

Just ran acros this site & consequently this thread.

Having been in & around this country for the past 30-years & a resident for the last 10-years, I just to comment on your article (Part 3 would not open by the way).

Try now:

To raise them up. Part 3: Investing in people
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archiv...m_up_par_2.php

[pinoyme]

Calm seas?

The tenor of your postings belies the avatar you have chosen for yourself. Hence, the question mark as you can see.

You appear to be frothing with anger at the Philippines and Filipinos.

Why so?

Yup, you bash us Pinoys as we have been bashing ourselves.

Yes, there was cheating in the elections. In the usual place where they have been done--in that distant area in Mindanao where the birds and the bees have voted as a matter of course since 1949.

Incidentally, such practices were also rampant in US cities in the late 1800s where machine politics dominated. But did the US of A sink into the depths of the ocean never to recover?

So, you have been here 10 years already.

OK.

Yet, you fail to have seen sectors among the middle class in this country who have been advocating for reforms. You have failed also to see the incremental progress taking place over the past two decades.

Or that the Philippine economy is humming once more. Or that the NPA is nothing more now than an extortionist gang stupidly mouthing Maoist slogans.

Or that the Abu Sayaff is a threat only in a very tiny slice of Mindanao. And that the rest of this island has an economy now on the bounce.

So, where have you been in the Philippines all these years?

And once again, what have you got really against my country?

As for PMA not the equal of West Point. Maybe.

But it does have alumni whose tactical and operational skills are first rate.
Now if only hazing there were to be minimized, many of them would perhaps not be that brutal as they conduct COIN operations.

And the US could play a key role in influencing this badly-needed reform.

Meanwhile, pray tell me: what happened to you here that you are so angry at the Philippines, Filipinos, and US policies in this country?