The Philippine Navy: Pursuing Islands of Good Governance

From The Diplomatic Courier (Nov 24): The Philippine Navy: Pursuing Islands of Good Governance (by Justin Goldman)



As an archipelagic nation, its maritime geography is a defining feature of the Philippines. As President Benigno Aquino III opened the Philippines Chairmanship of the Asia-Pacific Cooperation Summit (APEC) summit for 2015, he emphasized the importance of reforms built upon good governance. In the APEC Connectivity Blueprint for 2015-2025, it identifies the need for the organization to “help facilitate the efficient and effective operation of maritime transportation and shipments.” This is needed for the Philippines to realize the growth potential of its extensive marine resources. As it prepared to host the APEC Summit and as the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) moves towards greater economic integration, effective governance was identified as critical to thriving in this environment. The Islands of Good Governance (IGG) initiative is co-led by the Institute for Solidarity in Asia and the National Competitiveness Council, which launched it in March 2013. Twelve government agencies committed to this initiative in October 2013 and their progress as part of the IGG initiative will be on display during the APEC Summit.

The Aquino Administration has committed critical resources to the Navy as the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) have sought to transition from an internal security focus to the traditional role of territorial defense. Less than a year after President Aquino took office in June 2010, Secretary of National Defense Voltaire Gazmin expressed his frustration with limited naval capability when a submarine was detected in the Sulu Sea but the country’s lack of assets made it unable to respond to the intrusion in a timely manner. Since then however, the Philippines has been steadily building its defenses as well as acquiring new platforms to enable it to perform its intended role as the “sentinel of the sea.”

Capitalizing on the IGG initiative is a sound way to continue this progress. The Institute for Solidarity in Asia and the National Competitiveness Council developed a solution tailored to the Philippines that builds on the concept of the balanced scorecard, a systemic approach to planning and management that seeks to better align the activities of an organization in pursuit of its vision and strategy. The outcome of the collaboration was the Performance Governance System, designed to evaluate government agencies by measuring their performance against established strategic goals.  In 2003, the Joint Defense Assessment between the Philippines and her treaty ally the United States found deficiencies in defense institutions, highlighting shortcomings in acquisitions and policy planning. Prior to the Aquino Administration the Philippine Navy was moving to address these areas, crafting its strategic direction and determining its desired future state, which produced the “Philippine Navy Strategic Sail Plan 2020.”

The Philippine Navy has a clear mission to “organize, train, equip, maintain, develop and deploy forces for prompt and sustained naval and maritime operations to accomplish the AFP mission.” Crucially, their mission is accompanied by their own balanced scorecard that groups strategic objectives into thematic areas such as personnel, organization, resources, and capability. With a key initiative focused on organizational reform, the Philippine Navy sought to get certified by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) by having its core systems and process achieve the ISO 9001 certification as a quality management system. This was awarded to the Philippine Navy’s Finance Center in January 2012, the first entity within the AFP or the Department of National Defense (DND) to achieve the ISO certification.  Measuring the pursuit of such objectives kept a focus on institutional reform and now 14 Philippine Navy units and offices have achieved the ISO certification.

In December 2012, President Aquino signed into law a revised AFP Modernization Act allocating 75 billion Philippine Pesos (around USD$1.69 billion) for capability upgrades over five years. With this injection of funds, in August 2013 the DND selected PT PAL Indonesia to build two Strategic Sealift Vessels for the Philippine Navy. These vessels will have the ability to embark two medium helicopters, around 500 personnel such as a Philippine Marine Battalion Landing Team, and the necessary logistics. The ships are on track for delivery in May 2016 and May 2017 respectively. As the Philippines will continue to contend with natural disasters, this amphibious lift will allow the Navy to rapidly bring essential humanitarian assistance to a crisis. Perhaps most importantly, the IGG initiative has led to the establishment of three research and development units in April 2013, including the Office of Naval Strategic Studies. As staff to the Philippine Navy Flag Officer in Command, Rear Admiral Caesar C. Taccad, they are responsible for conducting studies and providing assessments for Navy leadership to support strategy formation and decision-making. As Rear Admiral Taccad provided clear guidance on his intent upon taking command to remain focused on the Active Archipelagic Defense Strategy, the office is diligently working to refine this strategy document. The strategic direction is essential to the Navy’s achievement of its stated goal from the Sail Plan to be “strong and credible” in 2020.

[Justin Goldman is currently an Associate Research Fellow in Military Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore and a Young Leader with Pacific Forum CSIS.]