I WANT you…and some more equipment.
The military will recruit 20,000 soldiers in the next three years to enable it to carry out its mandate of protecting the state, said Armed Forces chief Gen f Gen. Emmanuel Bautista.
As to equipment, Bautista said the military establishment is in the process of acquiring major mission essential equipment for “real threats” in disputed areas in the West Philippine Sea or South China Sea.
Bautista said the recruitment of 20,000 soldiers would cost some P7 billion to P10 billion.
The military proposed the recruitment last year. The plan is to recruit 19,204 men for the Army and 796 for the Navy and the Marines.
The Army is at the forefront in the fight against internal security threats, including the communist New People’s Army which the military wants defeated on or before the term of President Aquino in 2016.
Bautista did not say where the personnel to be recruited would ve deployed but said the new soldiers would address the current “requirements” of the 120,000-strong Armed Forces.
“The ideal situation is that we would have enough troops to address all our mandates. As the President has said, there has been no increase in the strength of the Armed Forces for a long, long time given that our population has increased tremendously,” he said.
“So we are just catching up with the requirements, personnel requirements and also equipment requirements. We have a lot of catching up to do and so that’s just what we are doing,” he also said.
The military establishment is in the middle of a modernization program which calls for the acquisition of hardware, including ships and aircraft, to address internal and external threats.
The recruitment is part of a plan to expand the counter-terrorist Light Reaction Battalion into a regiment-size unit. The US-trained LRB figured in the successful operations against Moro National Liberation Front fighters who attacked several barangays in Zamboanga City in September.
“Because of Zamboanga, we are now enhancing our counter-terrorist capabilities and so we are expanding our units that are trained and prepared for counter-terrorist activities, including their equipage and that includes force protection,” said Bautista.
“We are training new soldiers and we are expanding the unit (LRB). From a battalion size formation, its going to be a regimental size formation,” he said, adding the new men of LRB will come from both existing forces and new recruits.
On the territorial dispute at the West Philippine Sea, Bautista said, “Within the last year, we realized that there is real threat out there (in the West Philippine Sea) in terms of securing, defending our territory and we need to be very conscious about that.”
Bautista said the military’s capability has to be upgraded to address other non-traditional concerns, particularly disaster relief and rescue operations.
“Our modernization is geared towards addressing all those issues that we face. In terms of defending our territory, we are acquiring major mission essential equipment like lead-in fighter trainers and also frigates and strategic sealift vessels,” said Bautista.
The assets named by Bautista are under the modernization program and being acquired by the defense department through public bidding or government-to-government deals.
He said the military needs at least six frigates to ensure the integrity of the country’s territorial waters. The military currently has two frigates – the BRP Gregorio del Pilar and BRP Ramon Alcaraz that were acquired from US.
“It’s part of the plan. In fact, we are acquiring now two frigates and so we will acquire them in a couple of years,” he said referring to a public bidding for the acquisition of two frigates, with an approved budget of more than P18 billion.
Bautista said he will not see the delivery of the new assets during his term as AFP chief. He is due to reach the mandatory retirement age of 56 in July. He assumed the top military post in January last year.
“The lead time needed to really procure these is understandably long...I will not see the deliveries during (my term). The deliveries of them will not come in my term,” he said.
The BRP Gregorio del Pilar and BRP Ramon Alcaraz are tasked to patrol the West Philippine Sea where the disputed Spratly Islands is situated. The Spratly Islands are claimed by the Philippines, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam.
China has turned aggressive in its claims in the region over the past years. Sometime last year, it deployed ships around the Philippine-occupied Ayungin shoal.
Bautista said Filipino fishermen should ignore China’s reported imposition of a fishing ban in the Spratly Islands.
“Our fishermen should go on fishing. They should go on with their lives,” he said.
Asked if the military can guarantee the safety of the fishermen, he said: “Let’s put it this way. Should we give into terror, to threats and intimidation? Should we? We should not.”
“We should stand up for our rights as a people. We just go on with our normal lives. We have brought the case (dispute) for international arbitration and we will continue to do that, pursue that. We will continue with our mandate also,” he added.
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