“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.”

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PAF aircrafts
‘widow-makers or flying coffins’?

 It escapes
comprehension why, after a C-130 aircraft crashed, no other C-130 is available
in the Philippine Air Force to carry out various operational commitments. It shall take a few more weeks before the
next C-130 would be flight-ready, undergoing as it does, an
uncharacteristically long period of repair. Does it really take almost a year to repair a C-130? Does the PAF have to ‘cannibalize’ from three
other C-130s given the alleged prohibitive costs of repair or more so of having
to acquire a new one that costs $80 million? Would the defense secretary be right in claiming that there are no
available funds intended for the repair of any or all of the five C-130s in its
air base?

 Lt. Gen.
Pedrito Cadungog of the Air Force was heard to have challenged to a fist fight
anyone who can tell him straight to his face that the aircrafts at the PAF
arsenal are “widow-makers or flying coffins”. Fact is, he calls those who say this as – ‘brainless, heartless, ruthless, and reckless’. Bottomline, the AFP does not have to acquire
aircrafts or naval vessels that are already considered military surplus of
another country since logically they are more expensive to maintain than brand
new airplanes. And if there is such
a word as depreciation, x number of
hours of flying and x period of time of use will naturally not give higher
guarantees of safety. So can the good
general really blame those who think that not too few instances of crashes of
PAF aircrafts can readily lead one to think that the aircrafts of the PAF have
become less reliable?

 The lesson
of this C-130 crash is the expressed resolve that the government would then
insure acquiring brand new aircrafts for the Philippine Air Force no matter the
cost. Likewise, the government should
realize by now that over the long term, it could have been more expensive to
have maintained old-aged aircrafts. Certainly, it is sound military norm that any branch of the AFP should acquire
only brand new aircrafts, vessels, vehicles, armory, firearms, ordnance and
materiel – not those that are merely handed down by a military power such as
the

US

. Let there be a state policy banning the use of second-hand aircrafts or
vessels for the AFP since national security should never be compromised.

 RP has
probably trained the best pilots in the world. We are probably the only army who cannibalize from other aircrafts to
fly one or two of its kind given a viciously chronic claim of budgetary
constraints. So perhaps, not just for the
C-130s, the Air Force does cannibalize from the other types of planes in use –
helicopters, tora-toras, fighting jets, whatever. And when it does so, does it not become close
to possibility that our planes are reduced to become unreliable aircrafts? The same is true with the Philippine Navy
which still uses very old naval vessels from the

US

, such that maintaining them to a
near point they become scraps of metal proves to be very disadvantageous to the
government. 

 There ought
to be an expressed state policy that from hereon – with the fatal crash of that
C-130 – AFP will only acquire brand new aircrafts and vessels, nothing
less. A package of reforms for the Air
Force as it is with the Navy shall now be initiated. Let us cease to be the junkyard of

US

military surplus under the guise of
RP-US Military Bases Agreement or whatever euphemistic claims of RP-US
alliance. We should not even begin to
accept anything of economic assistance that comes in the form of military
hardware and in truth, are largely surplus, second-hand, handed-down. The AFP, the last institution to crumble in
any given society, deserves no less than the best.

 It pains us
to think that in the past, RP has shown itself too interested to acquire a
fleet of probably over-used, second-hand M151 Kennedy jeeps for use in the Army,
Air Force, Navy, Marines. Truth is,
their engines have to be replaced with locally available

Toyota

surplus engines. They have to be reconditioned and rebuilt to
be of any use to any unit in the AFP until it proved to be useless that we see
no more of these M151 Kennedy jeeps an entirely useless period of time after
acquisition. In the end, the AFP has
spent more for these virtual pieces of junk. They proved to be of no use. 

 By its own
official admission, PAF authorities say that aircrafts retire after x number of
flying hours. So for us to continue to
fly 40-year old vintage aircrafts must come with certain valid suspicion as to
its worthiness and integrity. There is
no doubt that C-130s in particular, have served the public very well because it
is through these cargo planes that goods, medicines are being transported from
one point to another; that troops or people are transported due to wars,
disasters, emergencies; and whose availability are ready upon the request of
our politicians regardless if such request carries with it any related value
for the military. 

 So the next
time the PAF flies the C-130 or any other such aircraft for that matter, it
shall be a brand new one – not “widow makers or flying coffins” – as some
quarters tend to rather believe. With no
one having to call the aircrafts of the PAF flying coffins, no one has to
engage the good general into a fist fight. What is disturbing a bit is the room for abuse in the way C-130s are
being scheduled for political reasons when they should be used for purely
military purposes. They should be made
less accessible for use of congressmen, senators, and other cabinet officials
as they tend to interfere with the true mission of the AFP in general. Truly, it costs so much in taxpayers’ money
to have to ferry a congressman or senator from one province to another – free
of charge.

Bangsamoro juridical
entity, anyone?

Events in

Mindanao

indicate that the problem of peace
in general has not been approached with a studied plan in mind – no ‘cognitive
map’, no ‘blueprint’, no ‘frame of reference’. There continues to be a tug-of-war between the AFP/PNP and the MILF/MNLF
to the extent that the future of the whole

Mindanao

hangs in the balance. Peace is presented to the viewing screen as
being resolved by simple arithmetical solution. This means that the AFP/PNP, when it experienced heavy casualties, will
just send additional contingent to

Mindanao

– more casualties, more troops. 

Fact is, the government has
commercialized its exclusive, bounden, constitutional duty to protect the State
against its enemies – by ‘subcontracting’ the entire job of running after
Commander Umbra Kato and Commander Bravo via a P5 million reward for each of the
top leaders of the apparently dreaded MILF. If we go by the more official pronouncement from the defense or military
establishment, it is as if, the MILF leaders are ordinarily categorized as
criminals with their crimes spelled out as murder, robbery, arson, et
cetera. If they were so, why is it so
hard for the government to bring them to the bar of justice?

It is clear that Kato and Bravo are
not your ordinary criminals or terrorists as our Defense Secretary and Chief of
Staff want us believe. Thus, for
bureaucrats to make a swelling understatement, oversimplification, or resort to
this rather vicious reductionist
arrogance – in the end – simply cannot provide soothing comfort to our people
who become part of the collateral damage of this unstudied joint military and
police action against the MILF. How many
more innocent lives will be caught in the crossfire – Muslims and Christians
alike? How many more lives – on both
warring camps – will be expended for fighting an armed battle where not one
single camp really wins? 

If the Supreme Court did not as much
as issue a temporary restraining order to the Memorandum of Agreement on
Ancestral Domain forged between the GRP and the MILF in uncharacteristic
secrecy that could have been paved the way for a

Bangsamoro

State

, could events have followed a
different configuration? If there had
not been any sort of opposition to a so-called Bangsamoro Juridical Entity –
under the ‘terms of reference’ set forth in the MOA – could the armed conflict  – have scaled down to zero? There were to be two scenarios that never
have to take place. The contemporary
mood is against two apparent states in a deceivingly peaceful co-existence and
it remains to be the only constitutional barrier against any attempt to a secession
or dismemberment. By whatever political
gameplan this attempt at an independent

Mindanao

must have been drawn, in the final
analysis, the government failed to cut clean.

Serious observers have taken an
entirely different view on the matter. There is more than meets the eyes on this sad comeuppance in

Mindanao

– Lanao, Cotabato, Sarangani,
wherever. There is a school of thought
that says the whole scenario is part of a US plan in Southeast Asia to position
itself against a possible increasing regional or global role of another country
in that part of the geographical grid. True enough, US is always the world policeman that is willing to pay the
price to set up strategic defense posts in every part of the globe as is  euphemistically called – US military presence.

On another, there is a prevailing
worldview that this has been borne out of fear of the US against a JI-led pan-Islamic
state spanning Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines
that is perceived to become a choke point through which oil imports from China,
Hongkong, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan will pass. Has if then become logical that US is taking
a pre-emptive move if indeed this is part of a JI (Jemaah Islamiyah) plan
especially so where it is said that this area contains some of the richest
petroleum and mineral deposits in the world? If there is reason for US, as a major importer, to be threatened in the
future of an oil embargo, then this kind of theory holds water.

What probably adds insult to injury
is the observation that the Chinese have strategic interests in the Spratlys
that would make US jealous. After all,

China

is US’ next strategic enemy in the
higher scheme of things. Where the

Philippines

will favor a

China

than a

US

, a lot of things can result in the
diplomatic landscape that probably bears watching. There are indications that a China-RP trade
relationship is being strengthened with new contracts with the Chinese. Be that as it may, this can have certain
political implications in the future. In
the meantime, PGMA remains a nut hard enough to crack as one historian says.

 Is there
really an oil game beyond the peripheral peace problem in

Mindanao

? Who stands to benefit in a given constitutional order legalizing a
Bangsamoro state or that a Bangsamoro Juridical Entity finally secedes itself
from the sovereignty of the Republic of the

Philippines

? There appears to be a larger picture beyond what are presented as though
isolated pockets of rebellion throughout the

Mindanao

peninsula. There seems to be a grand scheme of things
thought out by the stronger societies in the international realm. 

 Can RP just
play pony to a Trojan Horse? What really
is this war in

Mindanao

as it is happening now? Who
amongst us are actually selling our sovereignty by a dubious independent
Bangsamoro state? We hope the problem
settles down soon with us better enlightened than what we just hear over radio,
view from the TV, read from newspapers. The war in

Mindanao

is being made a convenient smokescreen for the real motives of either a

China

or a

US

over our territorial
sovereignty. In the end, RP is under
siege in the guise of a theatrical war game of sorts.

Charter change, anyone?

 Once again,
the matter of a charter change is being floated around at the highest levels of
governance – with no less than the Senate uncharacteristically endorsing its
own Senate Resolution No. 10 and signed by 12 senators and still counting. “It’s all systems go for Charter Change” – so
it’s said as though it were a sweet inducement in the sense of a Skinnerian
schema. On the other hand, it can send signals
that what the ‘powers that be’ really want is to reduce the fulcrum of power
one of perpetuity with PGMA as its most favored patron. Whatever is the motive for this move of
changing the Constitution when there was no hint whatsoever in the president’s
last sona on this crucial issue challenges reflection. In a political culture dominated by the
principle of numbers, the tyrants win the day. The votes will mirror that the Senators as the congressmen of Congress
have unanimously agreed to erect a change in the fundamental law.

 Senate
Resolution No. 10 is yet to be deliberated upon or a similar bill at the Lower
Chamber of Congress on a paradigm shift – from our present Constitution to a
Federalism making 11 federal states with

Manila

as the Federal Administrative
Region. Senators Villar, Pimentel,

Angara

, Biazon, Pia Cayetano, Enrile,
Escudero, Estrada, Honasan, Lacson, Pangilinan and Revilla signed this mere
Senate resolution that would set the stage for a

Federal

Republic

of the

Philippines

. Not too convincingly however, they want us believe that such a move is
designed to actually dissipate central authority down to the local set up as
though more powers will be given at the lowest tier of governance. Unabashedly enough, the presidential
spokesperson even claims that such charter change actually supports that
controversial Memorandum of Agreement or that which would create a

Bangsamoro

State

. The shift to a federal form of government, the theory claims, will bring
lasting peace in

Mindanao

. This ought to be one of
Ripley’s Believe it or Not.

 No one
seems to recall how then Speaker Jose De Venecia was batting for a charter
change under the concept of a shift to a parliamentary form of government. As to whether the federalism proposal is
woven from the same thread – is still unknown at this juncture. The latest developments point to the fact
that a pattern of withdrawal now occurs with the original signatories
withdrawing their support to Senate Resolution No. 10. What seems to be the preferred constitutional
route for a charter change is the convening of a Constituent Assembly and both
House of Congress seem agreed. Certainly, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales has always been optimistic
that such change can still happen in PGMA’s term but enough of Ripley’s. 

 Malacanang
has to disabuse our minds that there will no such thing as a surgical amendment
to the Constitution or that it will sneak in amendments to the new Charter that
will in effect, extend the term limits of the president. This seems to be the single stumbling block to
the success of such a Palace-sponsored move of a shift to a federal
government. In the same breadth, it
seems a mere ploy the official position that a federal form of government will
address or in fact put an end to the

Mindanao

conflict. There is inherent danger in this kind of analysis since the creation of
a Bangsamoro state will always undergo long period of debate and in the end,
the Palace will not have to accede to what they will propose. There has never been an end to this problem
of peace nor can it be micromanaged via a federal government system. For as long as

Mindanao

heavily subsidizes

Luzon

and for as long as

Mindanao

is always shortchanged by
government in terms of ‘social dividends’, the

Mindanao

conflict always is here to
stay. More than the political dimension,
the economic side of the ledger ought to be carefully studied and resolved in
their favor.

 Consider
for a moment that

Manila

would be the new US Washington,
D.C. and the Bangsamoro is actually one of 11 federal states, meaning, at long
last, we have Bangsamoro as a Juridical Entity in the whole scheme of
things. More authority will be
dissipated down to the local set up thereby allowing Mindanao as similar other
federal states a decentralized form of governance. How far will decentralization go? How far will centralization allow? There will be more questions asked than
answered once we go for a charter change. First, there will be massive revisions in the various Articles contained
in the 1987 Constitution. There will be
amendments that will undergo long debates unless the tyranny of number will the
prevailing intellectual culture if only to railroad such a move.

For want of peace, we will erect a
new Constitution. And such move
presupposes that there is already a proposed new Charter, a new Constitution
altogether – that no one has yet seen except those in Congress. There ought to be that version from the
Senate as there ought to be another version from the House of
Representatives. Has anyone even as much
as outlined for the viewing public what the new

Federal

Republic

of the

Philippines

is all about? Everybody just seems to point to

Mindanao

as the culprit of it all. How good indeed can we pattern our new
Charter from that of a so-called ‘Model Democracy’ that is the Swiss Cantonal
System? Where is the stimulus coming
from in this seeming mad race for a new form of government? Did Swiss President Pascal Couchepin really
believe the myth or sense of hope expressed in our official peace theory? 

RP is no

Switzerland

. As a people, we have yet to evolve as a mature democracy starting at the
highest levels of governance. Until
then, it will be a treacherous social experiment to tinker with the present
Constitution as though it has turned entirely useless just because we heard
bullets fired and houses burned in some remote barangays in

North Cotabato

? It bears watching this vicious issue of a Charter Change as it simply
gathers more steam than heat. Majority
is not always right until it does right. The numbers game ought now to be an intellectual taboo, pray tell. Still,
before push turns into shove, people would have decided in a plebiscite called
for the purpose. Pray tell, we Filipinos
decide wisely.