AFP to shift focus to territorial defense

MANILA, Philippines - The military will try to start shifting its focus to territorial defense from internal security this year even as it is still being confronted by a decades-old communist rebellion.

Armed Forces chief Gen. Emmanuel Bautista noted that the second phase of security plan Bayanihan is geared toward turning over the lead role of internal security to civilian agencies.

This would enable the military to set its sights in defending the country’s territory from intrusions and other maritime security threats.

“We will already start the gradual transition, the handing over to appropriate agencies of (the read role in) peace and security,” Bautista said.

“(We will) also start preparing for our other mandates like territorial defense and even addressing climate change,” he added.

Bayanihan, which took effect in 2011, aims to curb insurgency by addressing its causes like poverty and lack of access to basic services.

The first three years of the implementation of the security plan was supposed to focus on addressing internal armed threat groups.

The final three years of Bayanihan, which starts this year and will end in 2016, will focus on handing over the lead role in ensuring internal peace and security to civilian government agencies.

The military’s goal, however, is being challenged by the armed threats posed by the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of communist rebels, and terrorist groups in Mindanao.

Communist rebels earlier claimed that security plan Bayanihan has failed to reduce the insurgency to inconsequential numbers. They also vowed to launch more offensives to frustrate the plan, which seeks to involve all sectors in addressing security problems.

Bautista, nevertheless, remains optimistic about the prospects of Bayanihan.

“We will complete our targets for the next three years. We will sustain our gains in the second half and hopefully, before 2016, there will be no more violence and conflict,” he said.

Bautista said the communist insurgency has weakened and its area of concentration has been limited to the Davao area. However, heer, could not provide figures, saying that the Bayanihan is not after the so-called body count of fatalities.

“I’d like to believe thay their capability has been reduced and that is due largely to Filipinos who no longer want conflict,” the military chief said.

Bautista said the communists’ plan to increase their strength to 25,000 is bound to fail.

“I hope they (rebels) see the writing on the wall, that the Filipinos desire peace and prosperity,” he said.

The military previously pegged the strength of communist rebellion at around 4,000.