How to fix a country that can’t defend itself

The Philippines is situated in a region with ever increasing threats of war. With the militarization of the West Philippine Sea, China’s creeping invasion and the threat of Chinese invasion of Taiwan, war in the future cannot be ruled out.

The painful reality is that the Philippines is a sitting duck, unable to defend itself. Sure, government has appropriated a few billions to modernize the armed forces but it is too little to make a difference in battle.

The nation’s defense posture remains fragmented, disjointed and desperately lacking in assets. A defense strategy exists but it is not pursued with vigor or commitment. I spoke to a former defense secretary and he admitted that our leaders simply rely on the United States to defend our borders in deference to our Mutual Defense Treaty.

What festers is that preparation for war is not even at the forefront of discussions among our executive and legislative branches despite clear and present danger. They are more preoccupied about how much pork and intelligence funds they are appropriated and how to “re-invest” the nation’s wealth through the sovereign wealth fund.

Having an armed forces that is outnumbered, outclassed and out-skilled in battle is a recipe for defeat. One wonders what our leaders will do when we are overcome by our enemies. As is their routine, they will simply shrug their shoulders and play the blame game.

Everyone will agree that preparations for war and capacitating the armed forces should be a national priority.

This piece is another installment of a continuing series that highlights the best practices of successful nations. Our hope is that the Marcos administration will extract valuable lessons from countries that faced similar circumstances.

Israel proved that a strong military can be built amid scarce resources by simply adhering to five disciplines. The judicious use of funds; investment in education; investment in intelligence; strengthening the economy and forging alliances. This is the story of how Israel built the world’s 8th strongest armed forces from zero.

Israel became a sovereign nation on May 14, 1948. The very next day, the new republic was attacked by her neighbors – Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq and Syria. Although Israel was outgunned, it prevailed by the skin of its teeth, thanks to the ingenious use of seltzer bombs and Davidka mortars (an interesting story that deserves its own piece).

Since then, Israel has fought six major wars against its hostile neighbors, one in every decade. It faces continuing terrorist attacks and diplomatic isolation even today.

Like us, the Israelis needed strong armed forces to protect itself. But in the 50’s, the country was cash strapped. They had a population of only 1.3 million with no natural resources to leverage on. How did it manage to form its armed forces?

It used its scarce finances judiciously. Luckily, Israel had a steady flow of financial aid repatriated by Jewish societies in Europe and America. It received $850 million from West Germany from 1953 to 1966 as war reparation. It received $122 million a year from 1949 to 1973 as aid from the US.  Israel deployed these funds strategically.

Although a portion of the funds was used for armaments, the lion’s share was channeled towards education. The Israeli government invested in the best curriculum money can buy to address pressing problems such as water scarcity, food security as well as their defense and surveillance needs. Every Israeli shekel spent on education needed to pay dividends to the economy, society and the war effort.

In just one generation, Israel became a world leader in technologies relating to agriculture, health care, cybersecurity and defense, among others. From spending 30 percent of its GDP on imported weapons, the Israelis developed their own technologies and manufacturing capabilities for artilleries. They are now the world’s 10th largest weapons exporter, generating $11 billion in defense revenues, pre-pandemic.

Israel invested in intelligence. The Mossad Intelligence Agency has the distinction of having the third most formidable intelligence network after Britain’s MI6 and America’s CIA. We still recall how Israeli spy Eliyahu Cohen thwarted Syrian attacks on Israel by providing vital information directly from the Syrian leadership. We recall how Ashraf Marwan became the son-in-law of the Egyptian president, Abdel Nasser, so he could provide intelligence information to the motherland.

Mossad’s extensive spy network allowed Israel to pre-empt its enemies, dictate the tempo of battles and influence world events.

It strengthened its economy. Leveraging on education, Israel made itself a technology powerhouse. With more than 9,000 tech companies, Israel is today’s epicenter for innovation start-ups. In fact, it raised two times more start-up and scale-up capital than the Unites States over the last four years. It is also among the five countries with the most technology patents.

Israel forged alliances. As early as 2001, Israel warned the US of an al-Qaeda terrorist strike. It helped train the Singaporean army. It came to India’s aid in its war against China. Israel has been a good ally to like-minded countries, including the Philippines, and this has contributed to its geopolitical influence.

Back to the Philippines. Israel’s rise as a military power, despite scarce resources, teaches our leaders valuable lessons. One, in the world of geopolitics, we must be able to defend ourselves. To depend on treaty partners or the mercy of allies is not only pathetic on the part of our leadership, it puts our people in peril.

Two, a country with so many needs has no room for corruption. We must use our funds strategically for defense and economic development. Three, our human capital, if honed by education, can be transformative. Four, leadership that coasts along will result to a weak republic. Five, it is better to sweat in peace than bleed in war.

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Email: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @aj_masig