The challenges facing the BBM presidency
Last of 2 parts
WHEN Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (Bongbong or BBM) assumes the presidency on June 30, he will be greeted by a mounting energy crisis. The Malampaya natural gas fields that supply around a third of Luzon’s energy requirement are expected to be depleted in 2024. Our dependence on other sources like hydro power was limited by the El Niño phenomenon while geothermal power has issues of ground stability apart from material problems affecting equipment. Marcos may need to provide incentives and support to endeavors geared toward harnessing other sources of renewable energy. Will this constrain his administration to allow PxP Energy Corp. (formerly Philex Petroleum Corp.) to proceed where it was stopped by the outgoing administration from conducting oil exploration activities fearing that it may offend China? Will he consider and push for the construction of nuclear power plants, which the late former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., his father, envisioned 46 years ago?
The lingering and pestering problem with the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) has outlived six government administrations. The challenge to BBM is how to end this menace that stunted economic development in the countryside and undermined political stability for more than 50 years. While BBM has already revealed that he will pursue peace negotiations with this communist terrorist group (CTG), we hope that he will reconsider. The outgoing secretaries of the Department of National Defense and the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process are repositories of vast information and relevant reports. The executives of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the chief of the Philippine National Police are key informants on the status of the campaign against the CTG. All of them will be instrumental in providing the incoming president critical information and appropriate recommendations.
I do not speak for the Philippine military — well not anymore after doing so for four years and seven months as AFP spokesman. I can confidently say that as a professional organization, the AFP will support and pursue the directions of its commander-in-chief — hence the least of his worries. But if he were to ask individual personnel, I am also confident that the sentiment remains. They would rather not have another round of peace talks. They would go for the finish, once and for all. This, the current status of government having the upper hand, and its agencies addressing the drivers of insurgency, he will have to confront before pursuing the peace negotiations.
Some people may brand the soldiers as anti-peace or “utak pulbura.” But that label is unfair and farthest from the truth. Tired and scarred by relentless fighting, they wage war to win the peace. The government and the people suffer the most after botched peace talks that only allowed these communist terrorists to rest. It may then be prudent for the president-apparent to consider that every failed peace dialogue since 1987 (Corazon Aquino administration) until 2019 (Duterte administration) only afforded these threats to national security a chance to regroup, recruit new cadres, refurbish their arms and logistics and resurge. It bears asking: Why does the government have to negotiate with a group whose objective is to overthrow it? It is akin to someone negotiating peace with another who actually wants the other party dead.
The Marcos Jr. administration would have to contend with the lack of sincerity of the CTG. In a widely circulated interview with Mr. Luis Jalandoni, one of the representatives of these communist terrorists, he declared candidly that “…peace negotiations are another form of legal struggle which is used by the revolutionary forces in order to advance the revolutionary armed struggle …, [it] does not replace the armed struggle. It should advance, it should support this revolutionary armed struggle as the main form of struggle.” (Emphasis supplied) He thus unmasked the real motives behind every peace accord that these terrorists pursue.
The military, being one of the instruments of national power, must continue to modernize. The incoming administration needs to allocate additional funds to the Defense department to buy more ships and aircraft that take years to build. The Philippine Navy’s submarine program, for instance, is ongoing but the delivery of the first sub is likely in 2028 yet after the procurement planning started in 2021. The challenge for the BBM presidency is how to elevate the armed forces from legacy to world-class AFP amid a ballooning budget deficit and government’s competing priorities. But if the incoming commander-in-chief is to be faithful to the mandates of the Constitution to protect our territorial integrity and to secure our national sovereignty, the AFP should be able to patrol our maritime and aerial domains. And if we are to ward off intruders, we may have to boost our physical surface and sub-surface presence beyond just maritime domain awareness through littoral monitoring stations.
The commander-in-chief is mandated to perpetuate our interest in the Philippine Rise and in the West Philippine Sea (WPS). The least course of action yet still wanting is to improve the habitability of the nine islands, islets and features that our soldiers occupy in the WPS. It will be of interest to every Filipino if under the new administration the AFP can push through with the development of our outposts. China protests vehemently against all endeavors that tend to enhance the living conditions of our troops stationed there, but it is incumbent upon the incoming President to pursue our national interest.
It is interesting to know the stance of the administration of Marcos Jr. toward China and the US being rival superpowers at play in the region. As the principal architect of foreign relations, BBM will have to contend with the sentiments of the people. There is no denying that the vast majority of Filipinos who voted for him have also expressed strong disapproval and distrust of China while favoring and leaning toward America. Even the AFP has long- standing relations with the United States military that date back to World War 2 and continue to date with annual Balikatan training exercises.
The administration of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. faces numerous challenges — too complex and too complicated to be discussed in 900 words. He must grapple with problems like smuggling, Illegal gambling, trafficking of persons and Illegal drugs and arms trade. There are issues related to housing, unemployment, graft and corruption and human rights abuses that he must solve. Proof that the next president needs more of our support, prayers and cooperation and less of sowing of intrigues and fomenting divisiveness. He deserves all the help he can muster because he is our president, and the demands on his lofty position are exacting and the tasks we place on his shoulders are daunting.
Let Bongbong lead.