EDITORIAL - Arming and dealing with crisis

In normal times, the proposed P25 billion budget to modernize the armed forces would have been widely applauded for the tremendous boost it would bring to the capabilities of one of Asia's weakest militaries. But as huge as the budget is, recent developments cannot but render the amount as too little too late. What military capabilities that kind of money can buy will never be able to measure up to the new requirements demanded by the new circumstances we face.

Not that we would rather have no budget at all. We still need what new military hardware we can lay our hands on. According to the plans, the P25 billion will be used to purchase frigates, surveillance aircraft, and radar and communications equipment. These are things we either do not have or have too little of. But we should have had them long ago, when possession of them would have mattered to some relevant extent.

Not anymore now. The circumstances have changed. We no longer live in a time when sovereign actions on our part were pretty much normal activities that did not attract and invite foreign intervention. Now there are certain territories within our internationally recognized borders where we can no longer do what we normally do. Even non-military actions like fishing invite interdiction and harassment by Chinese navy ships.

Our conflict with China over disputed territories in the South China Sea forces us into a war footing even if that is not the path we wish to take or have actually taken. The best option for us has always been to proceed by way of diplomacy and or arbitration. But hand in hand with this must always be a posture that necessitates military preparedness for contingencies.

Such contingencies, however, require military strength that is realistically attuned to our needs. And very very sadly, we are simply and hopelessly outmatched by the adversary. We just cannot hope to match China, not even with a budget that is ten times what is being proposed. Frigates, surveillance planes and radar and communications equipment may be an improvement to what we already have. But they will never do the job that is now seemingly required.

In other words, while there is a need to retain the budget, and improve on it in the coming years, there is a need to rethink what we intend to acquire with that kind of budget. In the kind of conflict we are in and the strength of the adversary we are facing, it might do well to consider whether we will not simply be buying ships and planes for the enemy to sneer at or quickly dispose of, depending on the situation.

What we really need at this point are strong allies with interests strongly and closely intertwined with ours and are willing to do some really dirty work for us. What military hardware we can procure for ourselves are best kept for preventive posturing at a different time and under different circumstances. The current crisis we are facing will eat us up if we are not careful and prudent.