By Erik Espina
SEMINAL instinct of a people defending their families, communities, and way of life is pre-dated to the Lapu-Lapu victory over a Spanish “conquista” recollected every April. Evolutionary history of various tribes resisting foreign domination (100 plus uprisings from 1521-1907) graduating into the conceptual realization of a Philippine revolution in 1896, via “people’s war,” was central to achieve protracted liberation against a better armed foreign opponent.
Such strategy has served popular and libertarian causes when national values impels us to fight in a battle for self-respect and preservation, as underdogs.
On Oct. 31, 1896, revolutionary President Emilio Aguinaldo issued two decrees in Kawit, Cavite. One established what is the Philippine Army: “…will organize an army of 30,000 men, with guns and cannon for the defense of the towns and provinces under the Revolutionary Government.” The next paragraph, Army structure defined: “The Revolutionary Army shall be composed of three corps of 10,000 men under the command of three generals and a commanding general.”
Providing a hostile environment for defense, the 10th paragraph institutionalizes what some historians recognize as the Reserve Force: “Each Municipal Committee, shall appoint a captain who shall in turn, organize a “Citizens’ Guard,” all citizens are compelled to join…shall constitute the defense of the town.” Other historians counter aforementioned provision as a Citizens Army given absence of pay, uniforms, etc.
The second decree of Aguinaldo impressed “all Filipino citizens, lovers of their native land, to rise up in arms to proclaim the liberty and independence of the Philippines.” The Palace, Congress, and AFP must now produce a national defense strategy. Amend Reservist Act RA 7077’s error defining reservists as citizen soldiers and vice versa. The former a “force multiplier” with the regular army.
While the citizen soldier is of “whole nation defense,” submerged into the population as an asymmetrical and “invisible army” in guerilla tradition. That is the conceptual framework that requires institutionalization. No office exists for this strategic approach.
