Oh well, maybe it’s the thought that counts.
You can’t accuse Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of not trying to take a different tack – notably non-militaristic – in dealing with national security issues.
From the start, however, retired University of the Philippines political science professor Clarita Carlos looked like a square peg in a round hole.
She would later say she herself was surprised to be offered the job of national security adviser or NSA in June last year. At that point, her only encounter with the president-elect had been her participation in a campaign “debate” attended by BBM and set up by a friendly media organization, Apollo Quiboloy’s SMNI.
Carlos drew flak for that SMNI episode from Marcos critics, but BBM obviously appreciated it. He invited her to his campaign headquarters, where they discussed a wide range of issues. He was impressed enough with what he heard to offer Carlos the NSA post.
The move, seen as an indication that the incoming president was thinking out of the box, became one of his applauded early appointments – except, it seems, to the security establishment.
Shortly after accepting the appointment, Carlos had talked with “The Chiefs” on Cignal TV’s One News. Apart from providing some details about the events leading to her appointment, she also explained her concept of national security.
It’s in fact human security, she told us – a holistic view that encompasses other aspects of life including health, energy and food security. She didn’t believe in red-tagging, she said; insurgencies must be confronted at the roots, to eliminate the sources of discontent that compel people to resort to armed struggle.
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Carlos was unsure about what to do with the controversial National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict. Even back then, however, she indicated her belief that the NTF-ELCAC could be considered a success if it is no longer needed.
Progressive groups hailed her views and representatives of international organizations told her they have the same concepts on human security.
From the start, however, I wondered if Carlos could change the views on national security of the defense and military establishments, and whether she could wield enough clout in the Marcos 2.0 administration to effect a sea change in the state’s handling of security issues.
The NSA in this country does not enjoy the same clout as the NSA in the United States, where civilians such as Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski were influential in the role.
Perhaps Carlos’ early pronouncements about her views particularly on the eventual abolition of the NTF-ELCAC drew bad blood.
Carlos told us that from the start, her predecessor Hermogenes Esperon Jr., a staunch defender of the NTF-ELCAC and the Anti-Terrorism Act, had assailed the selection of a civilian with no military background as NSA. Other voices echoed such criticisms, she said.
The criticisms piled up after she appointed two NSA officials, both of whom she eventually replaced.
“From Day One pa lang, aba’y pinagbalakan na akong alisin nitong mga Hudas na ito (These Judases have wanted me out from Day One),” Carlos told The Chiefs last Tuesday night.
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Esperon, who served as Armed Forces of the Philippines chief during the presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, also holds strong views about security matters, just like several other AFP chiefs with whom I have had long talks. As NSA, Esperon had confronted head-on criticisms of the Duterte administration’s mailed-fist approach to the communist insurgency and terrorism.
Yesterday, Esperon declined to comment on Carlos’ statements: “Ayokong patulan.”
Some critics of the security hawks tend to oversimplify the debate as one between progressives and the militaristic utak-pulbura. Military officers, however, also spend a lot of time pondering strategy and studying events that lead to armed struggle, bloodshed and wars.
In the past half-century since Jose Ma. Sison set up the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing the New People’s Army, so many lives have been lost on both sides, apart from the civilians caught in the crossfire or executed on suspicion of supporting either side.
Beliefs tainted with the blood of loved ones and comrades in arms can be unbending.
Carlos is pitted against the equally headstrong Esperon, also a product of UP and the Philippine Science High School. This side believes the approach pursued by NTF-ELCAC and the previous administration have considerably weakened the insurgency and its mainstream support. One proof they cite is the decimation of the progressives’ ranks in last year’s elections.
The belief is that with a bit more nudge, the government can finally win the war, especially following the death of Joma Sison. Carlos, it seems, was deemed to be in the way of this belief.
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Earlier this month, amid rumors of destabilization following the replacement of Lt. Gen. Bartolome Bacarro with Gen. Andres Centino as AFP chief and the consequent resignation of Jose Faustino Jr. as defense officer-in-charge, Carlos told The Chiefs that she was also kept out of the loop and was “confused” by the surprise developments.
Days later, she resigned and was quickly replaced by another former military chief, Rodrigo Duterte’s interior secretary Eduardo Año.
What happened?
Carlos said BBM summoned her to a meeting at Malacañang last Saturday, which was also attended by three other persons she would rather not name – implying that they were among the Judases from Day One.
In the course of an hour and a half, she told us she offered to resign about 10 times, to spare BBM from further trouble.
When he finally relented, he said he still needed her expertise in foreign policy and defense, and suggested she move to the House of Representatives think tank, the Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department.
But the post is not vacant, and Carlos said she did not intend to replace the current occupant who happens to be one of her former students. So she’s not taking the post, even as she weighs her options post-NSA.
Carlos said three of the “Hudas” who wanted her out were part of BBM’s delegation to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
After a brief dalliance with a civilian approach to national security, Marcos Junior is back to the old tack.
It’s safe to presume that all those new concepts about human security have been tossed out the window, and the security hawks will again prevail.