In the face of rising threats, we should invest more in security

Security is no longer just the business or concern of private security agencies, politicians with provincial private armies or firearm aficionados who enjoy shooting as a sport.

In the face of the rising global threats of terrorism and transnational crimes, we should invest more time, effort, study, research and resources in security.

To strengthen our national security, the Duterte administration should seek help not only from our old ally, the USA, but also seek advice and cooperation from other experienced and decisive anti-terrorist countries like Israel, China, Russia, Singapore and South Korea.

Just a few days before the attack on Resorts World Manila, the organizers of the country’s first ever “1st Tactical and Survival (TACS) Expo” from June 1 to 4 at SM Megatrade Halls — led by Armscor Global Defense, Inc. chairman Severo “Conkoy” Tuason, SEVP and deputy CEO Gina Marie Angangco and their communications consultant Rafael “Apa” Ongpin — gave the Philippine STAR an interview about the important Philippine defense industry at Manila House in Taguig City.

Despite being the No. 1 Philippine arms manufacturer and exporter specializing mainly in shotguns, revolvers, pistols and sporting rifles, Armscor is still savvy at marketing its brand locally and internationally, such as by organizing this family-oriented TACS Expo to strengthen its brand equity and increase public awareness about general security issues.

Tuason and Angangco say that Armscor is the world’s largest manufacturer of 1911 design pistols today.

Martin Tuason, Sec. Delfin Lorenzana, and Demetrio Tuason at the first Tactical and Survival Expo with an Armscor gun and bullets

Indeed, even top businesses cannot be complacent and rest on their laurels, but must continuously do good marketing. Global brands like Apple and Coca-Cola, as well as Asian challengers like Huawei, Samsung and Lenovo also exhibit the same savvy in their continuous, sustained marketing efforts.

Armscor executives said their annual TACS Expo is not only about guns, but also showcases a wide range of other important security needs such as disaster or accident preparedness for earthquakes and other emergency situations.

Diverse groups that joined included the Philippine Investors Society, with its many homegrown technologies for survival. Among the many activities and exhibits at the annual TACS Expo include pre-colonial Filipino martial arts.

Also an exhibitor at TACS was the United Defense Manufacturing Corp. (UDMC) based in Parañaque City, a company I would describe as a “hidden champion” in Philippine business as the country’s biggest manufacturer of assault rifles, special-purpose rifles and precision rifles.

A century-old firm’s strategy

Formerly known as the Arms Corporation of the Philippines, the newly renamed Armscor Global Defense is the country’s biggest manufacturer and exporter of pistols and guns, with over 1,600 employees in its modern factory in Marikina City. Armscor also has a factory in America. It even has an orphanage as part of its philanthropy.

Tuason and Angangco said they will participate in public biddings to help supply and modernize our police and military, and that this name change reflects their firm’s expanded scope of businesses to include defense and not just supplying security agencies and shooting sportsmen. Tuason said that Armscor could service all defense-related needs, including importing mortars, hand grenades, etc.

Diversifying into allied or related business lines is one of the best expansion strategies for big firms like Armscor and even SMEs, because it is leveraging on inherent strengths, experience and existing connections.

The Philippines’ traditional source of firearms is still our former colonizer, the USA. However, due to the pragmatic, nationalist independent foreign policy of President Rody Duterte, the country now seeks to diversify its increased arms imports from other countries, including from the world’s No. 2 military exporter Russia (a close second to the US in global arms exports, Russia accounted for a 25-percent share in 2011-2015 while the US accounts for 33 percent of global arms sales).

Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) records show that President Duterte seems to have impeccable timing in recalibrating and balancing our old foreign policy to befriend all major powers, because the biggest change at that time was China’s leap from being the world’s No. 8 biggest weapons exporter in 2006-2010 (a 3.6-percent share) to No. 3 in 2011-2015 (a 5.9-percent share).

How the Philippines’ No. 1 arms factory overcame crisis

Ironically, even though former President Noynoy Aquino is known to love guns and shoots as one of his hobbies, the executives said it was under his administration and a 2014 change of policies in licensing firearms that caused a 90-percent drop in Armscor’s domestic sales.

When I asked the Armscor executives how they were able to survive and overcome their worst crisis, Tuason and Angangco replied that their company became more resourceful and focused on boosting their export sales. Today, 80 percent of total Armscor business is their exports to 60 countries.

Unlike many local companies that grew rich and became merely content in cornering our huge Philippine domestic market, Armscor adapted outwards with a globalization mindset by making itself export-oriented and thus globally competitive. Its guns and weapons have been prominently featured on the covers of defense media publications.

Since America is its biggest export market, Armscor even opened a factory in Stevensville, Montana.

Old business families can rekindle entrepreneurship

More aristocratic and with bigger landholdings in their prime than the Philippines’ traditionally known Hispanic clans was the Chinese-Spanish mestizo clan of the Tuasons, one of whose heirs is Armscor Global Defense, Inc. chairman Conkoy Tuason.

Tuason is a direct descendant of the legendary 18th-century self-made Chinese immigrant tycoon Son Tua, founder of the landowning Tuason clan and whom Ongpin said was the only person outside of Spain who was bestowed a hereditary title of nobility by the Spanish king, plus vast tracts of lands for financing an army here in the Philippines to fight the British invaders in defense of the Spanish regime.

In the era of their Chinese patriarch, the Tuasons owned lands from Binondo and Intramuros all the way to Marikina City, including the whole of what would become Quezon City in 1939. From a family of traders and entrepreneurs started by a talented Chinese immigrant, the Tuason clan became a socially prominent, mainly landowning clan in modern times.

The entrepreneurial 21st-century Tuasons behind the continuing reinvention of Armscor is a testament to the possibility that the Philippines’ multi-generational rich families can revive their ancestors’ entrepreneurial spirit.

Armscor itself is also an example of an old business that has been revitalized and continued with new ideas, energy, and dynamic new owners. Originally a Manila print shop called “Squires Bingham and Co.” that opened in 1905, Armscor also imported and sold motorcycles and sporting goods in addition to firearms and ammunitions. The Tuason family bought this firm in 1941 and started manufacturing firearms in 1952.

It is heartening to witness old companies like the 112-year-old Armscor and old-rich business families like this branch of the Tuason clan doing good business with these competitive mindsets and progressive strategies.

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