At least three countries --France, Spain, and South Korea-- are offering to sell submarines to the Philippines and develop a submarine program for us. They know how gullible we are. They know we are suckers for keeping up with the Joneses. They know how we abhor being left out of the ballpark.
They tease us by saying we are the only country that has a conflict with China that has no submarine. They cite the cases of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore which, as of 2012, already had submarines. Vietnam, they say, is following suit. They even threw in the case of Myanmar that, while it has no conflict with China, already has a submarine.
An interesting point to be made here is that the proposals do not come from the governments of these countries but from companies that make them. In other words, the primary consideration of these companies is to make money and not to help us battle China. They are out to make a quick buck out of us. They know how limp our noses are.
A word for them, though. They did study us well. And they understand perfectly how our psyche works. Nobody can tell us we are the only ones left out of anything before we do everything to join in and jump on the bandwagon. Moreover, there are among us who are quick to realize there is money to be made in huge purchases, no matter how needless.
And submarines are a needless expense. In today’s world countries need tomorrow’s submarines, not yesterday’s bathyscaphes. Submarines are for power projection. They are for real military powers like the United States that need to forward-deploy their offensive platforms. Submarines are for parking at an enemy doorstep with an arsenal of fire from hell.
A submarine is, to a large extent, no longer a defensive weapon. Modern enemies now attack from the air. Even nuclear ballistic missiles fired from submarines have short-lived water lives. As soon as they break free of the water surface, the delivery of its payload is through the air all the way toward doomsday.
Singapore has submarines? What Singapore has really is a lot of money and a lot of pride. Singapore has no need for submarines to project power because it is a very peace-loving country. As to its defense posture, what is there to defend from the sea? Singapore is but a speck in a spit of land at the tip of the Malay Peninsula. You can even miss it with a slingshot.
Assuming the Philippines has the wherewithal to splurge on anything, let it not be on useless submarines. Let it be on surface ships with more practical uses. Let it be on fighter jets with more credible firepower to act as real deterrents, or at least to cost the enemy its entire row of front teeth in case it tries a little foolishness.
Let us not be hoodwinked by sales talk about being the only kid in the block who doesn’t have a colored TV. We have fallen for such talk many times already. K to 12. School opening in synch with America. Maharlika Fund. US State Department travel guidelines on trafficking. It is time we stop being copycats and live our own lives.
More importantly, let us stop embracing initiatives that can only open up opportunities for the corrupt to make money. Purchases of military hardware are rumored to involve huge amounts of commissions on top of what can be derived from overpricing. Especially if the initiatives are useless and taken just for its own sake to make money.