For Clarita Carlos, a civilian like herself is actually a better fit for the position of National Security Adviser (NSA), instead of, say, a person with a military background.
The retired University of the Philippines (UP) professor laid out her reasons Thursday, June 9, during an interview over Radyo Pilipinas.
On the notion that a military person should be the NSA, Carlos said: "Gaya nga ng sinabi ko kanina, yan kasi ang hindi tamang pagitingin natin sa national security kasi akala natin yung national security tungkol lang sa relation sa China, sa QUAD (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue), no (Like what I said earlier, that is the incorrect way of looking at national security because when think national security is about relations with China, the QUAD)."
"In fact yan ay malayo pang alalahanin natin dahil hindi naman tayo magkaka-giyera (that's far from our minds because we're not going to war), it’s not likely," she noted.
Carlos then went on to paint a simpler, more practical idea of national security.
"Ang alalahanin mo yung hinihinga mo sa umaga na hindi ka mamamatay, yung kung meron ka bang kakainin, na meron bang gasolina yung kotse mo, yung mga jeep meron bang gasolina o titigil na sila at hindi ka makapunta sa trabaho (What you should think about is waking up alive in the morning, if you have something to eat, if there's gasoline in your car, if the passenger jeeps are still running and if you can still go to work).
"Nakita mo yun (You see that)? These are all human security issue so siguro being civilian, katulad nung nasa National Defense College ako, civilian din ako, binreak ko yung military tradition, ay mas malawak talaga ang pagtingin mo sa national security kasi human security talaga yun e (so I guess being a civilian, like when I was with the National Defense College, I was a civilian, I broke the military tradition, you really have a wider purview on national security because it's really human security)," she explained.
Carlos accepted the position of NSA during a meeting with President-elect Bongbong Marcos on Wednesday, June 8.