President Marcos said that the country's military needs to boost its capabilities as it transitions from internal operations to external defense posture.
However, Marcos cleared that the Philippines is not waging war by doing so.
Citing that internal threat has been reduced, Marcos on Thursday, June 6, vowed to provide the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) with the necessary resources, training, and equipment given that they also now have to think about external threats.
“Now, I am sure that all of you are aware now that the internal threat has been reduced. We now have to also think about the external threat and that again is a different strategy that we will have to employ,” Marcos said in his remarks during his camp visit to the Army’s 10th Infantry Division in Mawab, Davao de Oro.
“But we in the civilian government and together with the military commanders are doing all that we can to make sure that our men and women [in military] are completely capacitated,” he added.
The President stressed that the military has to transition so it can continue performing its mandate to promote the safety of the people and the security of Philippine territory against current emerging threats.
He added that the soldiers will have a partner in civilian government, adding that the civilian government, together with the military leadership— from the Armed Forces Chief of Staff down to the commanders in different units — will work to capacitate security forces.
“Gagawin natin ang lahat para may kakayahan kayo (We will do everything so that you have the capability). You have the capability to do the job, that is this new job that you have to face. You have the capability. You have the training. You have the equipment and that we will be able to present at least a deterrent force,” the President said.
'We are not going into war'
The Commander-in-Chief pointed out that by bolstering the capability of the AFP does not mean that the Philippines is thinking about war.
“Hindi naman tayo nakikipag-giyera kahit na kanino. Wala naman tayong gustong pasukin. Tayo ay defensive lang naman tayo at dinedepensahan lang natin ang bansa natin (We are not going into war against anybody. We do not want to put ourselves into anything. We are just being defensive and we are only defending our country)," Marcos said.
"Kaya’t ‘yan ang ating bagong threat na hinaharap ngunit kagaya ng sabi ko, kung nagawa ninyo ito dahil sa internal threat, ako’y malakas ang loob ko na kaya rin ninyong gawin pagka dumating sa tinatawag na external threat (That is the new threat that we are facing but like what I said, if you were able to do this for internal threat, I am confident that you can also do it for what we call external threats)," he stressed.
During his visit, Marcos also urged the soldiers to be peacekeepers by encouraging communist insurgents to return to the fold of the law.
Every concerned party has to work together to continue developing the barangay development program, he said, adding that the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and all the other components of the strategy to improve peace and order in the countryside have to collaborate with each other.