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Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star
April 2, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — This year’s Balikatan Exercises will be a “full battle test” for thousands of participating Filipino and US soldiers, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said yesterday.
“We are now testing all of the plans, all of the doctrines, all of the procedures that we have developed in the past years and this year we are going to test them. It’s very important that we prepare for any eventuality,” Brawner said in a speech at the anniversary celebration of the Northern Luzon Command (NOLCOM).
The Balikatan Exercises this year are expected to take place late this month until May.
He noted that US defense chief Pete Hegseth, who visited the country last Friday, emphasized his nation’s continued commitment to Philippine security and that the NOLCOM and the Western Command, which both exercise jurisdiction over the West Philippine Sea, would have the bulk of support.
“Of course because these are the areas where we perceive the possibility of an attack. I do not want to sound alarmist, but we have to prepare,” he said.
He said that based on Hegseth’s speech, the main objective of the US is to attain peace through strength.
“But how do you achieve strength? Strength is achieved by preparing for war. And so we are following that, that line. We achieve peace through strength and we achieve strength by preparing for war,” the AFP chief pointed out.
“As members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, we should have that mentality that we are already at war. We have been in conflict for several decades with our own people, the members of the New People’s Army, members of the local terrorist groups. During the Marawi siege we got tricked – foreign terrorists joined the fray, but basically we were fighting with our own people,” he said.
“But the next conflict, big conflict that we will be experiencing will not be against our own people,” he added. “So we have to prepare for that.”
Different war
But he said the war that Filipino troops should be prepared for is not the “kinetic warfare” being fought between Russia and Ukraine or between Israel and Hamas.
“We are experiencing already cyber warfare, information warfare, cognitive warfare, political warfare,” he said.
“Communist China is already conducting united front work in our country. So we have to be aware, our soldiers have to be aware. It’s not a figment of the imagination that we’re being infiltrated,” he pointed out.
“They’re already infiltrating our institutions, our schools, our businesses, our churches, even our ranks in the military. So we need to be vigilant. So, in a world where the security landscape is perpetually changing, your strategic foresight ensures that we are always one step ahead,” he added.
Brawner recalled that 38 years ago, NOLCOM was established based on a vision to safeguard the country’s northern frontier. “That vision has evolved into a powerful reality,” he said.
Taiwan invasion
Brawner also called on NOLCOM troops to prepare for a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan, which is just across the Philippines’ northern waters.
“Let me give you this challenge, this further challenge. Do not be content with securing just the Northern hemisphere up to Mavulis Island. Start planning for actions in case there is an invasion of Taiwan,” he said.
“Because if something happens to Taiwan, inevitably we will be involved. There are 250,000 OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) working in Taiwan and we will have to rescue them. And it will be the task of Northern Luzon Command to be at the frontline of that operation,” Brawner said. — Roel Pareño
