A briefing by the Strategic Studies Group

Upon the invitation of Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr., I flew to Manila last Thursday morning to attend the Strategic Studies Group (SSG) briefing at the conference room of the Department of National Defense (DND) which was chaired by Comm. Carlos Agustin (ret.) and co-chaired by Comm. Francisco Tolin (ret.) with Undersecretary for Defense Affairs Antonio Santos Jr. The briefing was given by Christine June Cariño, head of the Institute for National Security Studies, who also briefed the group on the National Defense College (NDC). Unfortunately, Secretary Teodoro could not be with us as he had to be in Davao City with the President.

The SSG is apparently composed of eminent academics and defense practitioners representing a wide range of expertise who significantly contribute to policy formulation in the DND. To be perfectly honest, I only knew about the existence of this group when Sir Max Soliven mentioned it in his columns. But I never knew what they have been doing and that the National Defense College also has an Institute for National Security Studies.

I was the only person based in Cebu who attended this conference; the rest came from Manila… although there were a few Manila-based Cebuanos like Atty. Tony Oposa, the nation’s equivalent of Al Gore, and Atty. Manuel Faelnar of the Defenders of Indigenous Languages of the Archipelago, and Dr. Gaudioso Sosmeña Jr. (DILA). I also met two eminent professors, Deans Froilan Bacungan and Bartolome Carale, and Rene Azurin.

The SSG gave me the impression that there is, indeed, “civilian authority over the military” as provided in our Constitution. Perhaps even more important is that the major thrust of the DND is not to find new or improved ways to fight wars, but to fight all the forces that lead or breed insurgency, terrorism, extremism and separatism. What surprised me were the freewheeling exchange of thoughts and ideas in the conference room, where we could speak to our hearts’ content on many issues or subjects that breed discontent, hopelessness and eventually a total distrust of the government.

Yes, national embarrassments or irritants like injustice and corruption came out like a sore thumb, but there was a consensus that corruption is aggravated by grave injustice. I mentioned that we Filipinos have been embarrassed to no end…  not only by being tagged as one of the most corrupt countries, but our usual maladies like having a Navy without ships or an Air Force without airplanes. We are so tolerant a nation that we just laugh off such serious issues. But as we all know, the joke is on us!

I told our friends in the SSG that proudly in Balamban, Cebu the FBMA has been building fast commercial vessels like the famous SuperCat which other countries have purchased, including small naval vessels that the UK has bought, yet the Philippine Navy still buys Australian or Spanish-made ships with our meager resources. What about the return of the ROTC? When can we implement this? My son is now in first-year college and he wants to enroll in the ROTC, but there’s none in Cebu!

No doubt everyone in the SSG agreed that we must produce locally made vessels and yes, also acknowledged the need for the return of the ROTC. But when? No one seems to be in a damned hurry! Therefore the major bottleneck lies on another Pinoy malaise called “implementation and enforcement.” Indeed we Filipinos are brilliant thinkers; we make the best laws in the world. A case in point is the Clean Air Act which is better than what most Western countries have. Our problem lies in the implementation or the enforcement of these laws. What we do is talk a lot; after all talk is cheap.

Beside me was Dr. Cesar Pobre who wrote an article in the National Security Review entitled, “The Quest for National Identity: Imperative to Building the National Community.” Since I will be in Jakarta by this time for a weeklong conference, with Dr. Pobre’s permission I will make a critique on this subject in the next column. But off-hand let me say that our problem of having a national identity has been stymied by the factors that have brought shame to our nation… corruption, injustice, and a lingering bureaucracy that turns off direct foreign investments. I say that we fix what’s wrong with the country right now and it’s only we who can do it!

After the meeting, I proceeded to the Mall of Asia since I had a few hours waiting for my flight back to Cebu. Call it a coincidence that I ran into my good friend Ric Camaligan who runs the SM Theaters and he shove me off to see Beowulf in 3D at the IMAX Theater. What a switch from a whole morning dissecting the nation’s problems to watching a very exhilarating 3D fantasy movie. Like Beowulf, often reality gets mixed up with fantasy!

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns can also be accessed through www.philstar.com. He also hosts a weekly talkshow, “Straight from the Sky,” shown every Monday, 8 p.m., only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable.