Bayan to Marcos: Stop militarizing civilian functions in the name of national security

There is a dangerous trend in the Marcos Jr. regime where every social concern is framed as a national security issue and where military influence is expanding without limits.

The so-called whole of nation approach to national security and counter-insurgency calls for the militarization of civilian agencies and functions, and subsuming them to military objectives and national security goals. That much is clear in the National Security Policy of the Marcos regime. It is worth noting that this is a concept taken from the US counter-insurgency doctrine.

Through EO 37, the Marcos regime requires all its agencies to adopt the NSP and incorporate it in their programs. Right now, 21 out of the 22 departments of the executive branch of government have representatives in the NTF-ELCAC. The civilian bureaucracy has been subsumed to the military and so-called national security objectives.

May be an image of 1 person and text that says "DILG NIST 70 ARID LOCAL EU END Stop militarizing civilian functions in the name of national security BAYAN"

When we hear the DepEd secretary say that education is “intertwined” with national security, she is merely echoing the NSP which paints practically all social issues as national security concerns. This again strengthens the militarist hand in government. National security is then used to justify questionable confidential funds.

Recent news of the NTF-ELCAC wanting to include the CBCP and business groups in its execom is also aligned with the expansion of the influence of the military in all aspects of society.

This mindset of getting the entire government apparatus to be engaged in counter-insurgency, subsuming civilian agencies to military objectives, and expanding military influence in all aspects of government and society, is not at all new. That’s exactly what the Martial Law of Marcos Sr did.

Not everything should be framed as a national security concern. Not everything entails a military solution. This was most clear during the pandemic when failed militarist solutions instead of scientific approaches were used.

What is the end goal of the NSP? The regime says it wants to make the revolutionary forces irrelevant so that the AFP can shift to external defense. But shouldn’t the goal be to address the roots of the armed conflict and achieve a just peace? Here we see again that the military objective outweighs the more important political objective of addressing the basis of the armed conflict.

So when the regime says it wants rebels to surrender because there are social programs ready for them, the government is merely talking about degrading the armed strength of revolutionary forces without really addressing the socioeconomic and historical roots of the armed conflict. As such, the approach will fail.

Instead of sham localized peace talks and subsuming civilian agencies to national security concerns and military objectives, the Marcos regime should engage in serious peace negotiations to address the roots of the armed conflict. The militarization and fascisization of government is definitely not the solution to our nation’s woes. If this trend is unchecked, we will revert to a de facto Martial Law scenario, ironically, under a second Marcos regime. ###

Categories: Statements

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