AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Benjamin P. Defensor : Knowing How to Win

"I think it was my destiny to be a military man," says Gen. Benjamin Palma Defensor on a relaxed early evening in the gazebo of his residence in Camp Aguinaldo.

Defensor, who assumed command as the 30th Chief of Staff of the 130,000-strong Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) last Sept. 10, cites two reasons for his entering military service. First, both his parents were members of the guerilla movement that fought the Japanese during World War II. Second, during his time, females were not accepted as cadets at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA).

"Both my parents were members of the guerilla movement in Panay. They fought against invaders and even though they went into separate professions after that, my mother and father always reminded me of our obligation to history. My mother always reminded me that her great grandfather was a member of Gen. (Emilio) Aguinaldo’s revolutionary army," he explains.

"I think I was destined to become a soldier because our eldest was Miriam, the more famous among our siblings, and if Miriam had been a boy she would have been the one to go to the PMA," he continues. "At that time, ladies, females were not accepted. So it happened."

They were seven brothers and sisters, five still living; he is the second eldest. Coming from an academically-inclined family (his father became a lawyer then a judge while his mother was a college dean), he was expected to do well at school.

"It would be very embarrassing to have bad grades when you come from a family like that. I might be branded as a black sheep if that happened," he says.

But his sister, former senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, was hands down the most intelligent among the brood. Miriam, he says, was more than a bookworm. She would be reading even in between swimming laps.

He relates an anecdote when he got a top grade in Geometry and wanted to show it off to his eldest sister.

"When I went to her classroom, I saw that the teacher was letting her teach the class. I was exempted (from the finals) but in her case, she was the one who was teaching," he relates.

At the PMA. He says as a cadet, you are expected to have a hard time. It was at the academy, he says, that he learned the true meaning of patriotism.

"In the academy, you’re given training to develop character–to develop a strong mind and body and a stronger inner self that will form the core of your character. But your real education in becoming a good professional comes after you’ve left the academy," Defensor says.

He chose the Air Force because it was the age of technology. He first flew the UH-1H "Huey" helicopter. His baptism of fire was in Central Luzon, trying to stem arms landings to communist rebels.

"I was sent immediately to the field because at that time, we had many aircraft. I became a chopper pilot and a combat pilot. We started in Central Luzon going after the NPAs and moved to Isabela, then into Bicol and the Visayas and finally, when the fighting in Mindanao started in the early ’70s, they sent me there. Perhaps one of my blessings in life is that I had the opportunity to be a participant–a direct participant–in all the major campaigns of the Armed Forces of Philippines."

After graduating from the PMA in 1969, he met Margaret, who would become his wife. He insists, however, that it was his wife who wanted to meet him and that her father, who was also a military officer and a veteran of the Death March, was instrumental in getting them married.

He recalls that when he visited Margaret, he also looked forward to meeting her father because they would talk about a lot of things, mostly soldiery. Defensor capitalized on the fact that he was good in military history and had committed to memory the battles of Bataan and Corregidor.

"I think her father liked me more than she liked me," he smiles. "We could talk about soldiery and her father never got tired of soldiery. But outside of that, we had other hobbies that were similar, like hunting. I also liked to go to the farm and I liked to breed animals, which were also the hobbies of her father."

They got married at St. Pancratius Chapel in Paco Park in January 1970. He recalls that he used his own white car (which he bought second-hand) as the bridal car. Two hours before the wedding, he had to clean his car again because of mud splatters.

Defensor says he does not regret that none of his children–a boy and two girls–followed his footsteps, though he did his best to convince them to join the military.

"(My son) grew up in a military camp but every time we broached to him the idea to join the military, he did not exactly refuse but I think his exact words were, ‘I don’t think I want to become a soldier; I want to have a better life.’ He saw how difficult it was for me to be a father and do my job as a soldier," he says without rancor. "So I said wherever you will go, as long as you will be happy, as long as you will be the best in what you do, it’s okay." His son operates an IT business in the United States and he hires mostly Filipinos as partners or employees.

He dismisses the controversy surrounding his appointment, which came only two days before his scheduled retirement last Sept. 12 upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 56. Defensor’s term was extended to Nov. 18–or exactly 69 days, the shortest term of any chief of staff.

He also denies that politics had anything to do with his appointment, pointing out that had his feisty sister, who is identified with the opposition, been involved in any way, he would probably not have the most-coveted post in the military.

"We are brother and sister; politics is a fleeting episode in our lives. Politics and politicians, these are fleeting figures. Your brother or your sister will always be the same person. We have no quarrel with each other; maybe I am in the service and she is democracy in action."

Despite the AFP’s aging and limited number of equipment, particularly aircraft, Defensor strongly believes that the Filipino soldier is the best in the world.

"Simply because we have combat experience. All other air forces have better aircraft, maybe better equipment than we have, but their flying skill is limited to training, simulated encounters and exercises. Ours is actual. That’s why when you land, or when you approach an area, deliver your armaments, deliver your soldiers, you are practically doing something that is not in the book. That is not theoretical. So as far as actual experience is concerned we are rich in that, including our younger ones," he says.

Defensor belies criticism regarding the preponderance of retired generals in key civilian posts. He believes that military men make good managers because of their training.

"A well-trained military mind is structured," he explains, "it has an organization always in the back of your head. (When) you have a problem, that organization, that operations plan, tackles and handles the problem and your greatest asset, when you have served many years in the service, is that you have the ability to withstand privation and fatigue. Because that is what you are trained for. I’m not saying (that) you are a superior race, but when you get problems, this is nothing new to you. There can be no problem in the corporate world that is bigger than the problem you will encounter when you are in the service."

The problem of terrorism, the general believes, is a great cause for concern and that everyone, not just the military and police, should be involved in combating it.

He says the insurgency has "mutated into something else"– before, there was insurgency because of poverty; but now, there is poverty because of insurgency and terrorism. "Simply because they (terrorists) extort from businessmen, they harass contractors, they harass people who want to invest in the Philippines, they give us a bad image.

"Everybody thinks that Jolo is the Philippines and that is bad. And that is our problem now and that is why we have to address that first. But again, I go back to my basic premise: Life is never easy. That is how life is in this world, life will always have obstacles and that is why we have to overcome these obstacles to achieve a certain level of success. How you overcome these obstacles determines the degree of success.

"That is why I emphasize the principle of the Gordian Knot. The Gordian Knot is nothing but an obstacle in life–it could be at a national level, it could be at a strategic level, it could be at a tactical level. How you deal with the knot will vary at the level that you work on," he says.

Retirement is certainly not a dirty word for General Defensor. His many retirement plans include reinvigorating the "Spirit of 69", a band composed of his batchmates at the PMA. The band has been occasionally doing the rounds of bars and other venues to raise funds for dependents of soldiers who were killed or injured in battle.

"That’s one of the things we will be doing on the side because it keeps us together, it warms the heart and reminds us of how we started off and how far we have gone," he says.

He also plans to return to the media, which he says is his first love. He recalls that during the Marcos era, he had stints in government media outfits. "If I was not in the military, I would be the one interviewing you," he laughs.

Sports is another option. "I could go into competition again because I’ve been competing all my life. If you look at my bio data, I’ve been in sports all of my life. I have handled national teams, I have been part of national teams. I was a member of the Philippine team to the World Chess Olympics in Malta. I was a member of the national team in track and field competitions. I have coached other teams. It is something I would like to do," adding, "in the final analysis, sports and war are the same. The principles of sports are the same principles of war. The bottom line is you should know how to win."