PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte’s defense secretary, Delfin Lorenzana, has been calling for a review of the Philippine-US Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT).
His statements at a virtual forum sponsored by one of the new faces of the CIA, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) made some encouraging points while it also contained a lot of self-contradictory statements.
What was encouraging was his assertion that, “We cannot be forever relying on others for our security…” That is fully consistent with President Duterte’s implementation of the Philippine Constitution’s “independent foreign policy” and a realization of the original 1898 Philippine Revolution’s dream.
It would also make economic sense to start producing our own defense and security equipment.
But in the same line about not relying on others for our security Lorenzana contradicts himself by addressing this to the Americans in the forum:
“Helping the Philippines modernize its military would make it a more reliable and dependable ally to the United States in the pursuit of a free and peaceful Indo Pacific.” With that Lorenzana re-injected the long traditional Philippine defense mendicancy to the US.
There was a time that the Philippines started on the road to defense self-sufficiency, and it was when President Ferdinand E. Marcos led the country in making efforts to wean away the Philippines from dependency on the US.
At that time the Philippines already produced the inter-island plane called the ‘Islander’ and started developing the F-5E but was aborted when Edsa-1 ousted Marcos.
Let’s not forget the role of the American faction of the AFP (and the Intelligentsia such as Teddyboy Locsin) that ousted Marcos and installed the American puppet Cory Aquino that caused the abortion of all the defense self-sufficiency programs – even the Philippine production of the M-16 ‘Armalite’ by Armscor Phlippines, a Philippine GOCC.
The country also started to manufacture its fast patrol boats, described as the local version of the American WWII PT boats but using fiberglass instead of steel hulls.
The start of the missile development program was featured with the launch of the liquid-propelled rocket “Bongbong” under Marcos’ classified, ‘Project Santa Barbara,’ aimed to produce Surface-to-Air and Air-to-Air missiles (SAM/ATA).
Imagine if Marcos had not been ousted by the American boys in the AFP and the defense self-sufficiency programs continued to this day 35 years later, what could Project Santa Barbara have achieved or the F-5E fighter jet production ambition be today?
The entire era ushered in by Cory Aquino and the Amboy leaders in the AFP and Philippines society simply re-ingrained our mendicant mentality.
Lorenzana went on with his homily to the CSIS forum, “At the top of my agenda was finding ways to enhance and reinvigorate our alliance and our mutual defense treaty…” including the reaffirmation of the “iron-clad” commitment of the US to Philippine security which “extends to the South China Sea as emphasized by Secretary of State Antony Blinken”.
Lorenzana’s words above contradict his own earlier lines in the speech: “The Philippine-US alliance, therefore, will have to evolve in recognition of new political realities, most especially the rise of China, as well as Manila’s constitutional commitment to a more ‘independent foreign policy’…”
The political realities, peaceful rise of China, and US track record, all go against Lorenzana’s expectations.
What are the political realities on the ground? First, consider the actuations of the US over the course of Philippine history: it invaded the Philippines and crushed the Philippine anti-colonial and anti-imperialist revolutionary forces and army, established a puppet constabulary which later spun off the AFP, used the AFP as an adjunct to the US Armed Forces, kept the AFP dependent on its worn out military equipment for over a hundred years. Is this the practice of an “ally”?
Secondly, President Duterte and President Xi Jinping of China have declared to the world the two countries’ “strategic cooperation” that contradicts the U.S. declaration of China as a “strategic competitor.”
How can the Philippines enter into an alliance with the U.S. that is against the Philippines’ “strategic cooperation” partner? Doesn’t this put the Philippines in a schizophrenic dilemma?
Thirdly, consider the practices of the US: repeated abandonment of its “allies” such as South Vietnam in 1975 and recently in Afghanistan in September 2021, the Kurds in Syria and soon Iraq and even Saudi Arabia where it is pulling out its Patriot Missiles. And the latest, stabbing France in the back over submarine deals with Australia
Lastly, the Philippine National Security Adviser, Hermongenes Esperon, has repeatedly stated since November 2, 2020 that China is not a national security threat and added that “We benefit from China as a market and we are getting projects … We are not at war with China.”
China is now the top trading partner and top export market of the Philippines, is that a national security threat? (More on this next week).
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