Philippines readies troops for unilateral defense before seeking reinforcements from allies

Manila, Philippines – The Philippine military is fortifying its defense plan against attacks before invoking security pacts to seek reinforcements from allies.

Armed forces chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said the directive of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is to build a force capable of standing its ground for at least 30 days.

“We are expecting na kapag nagkagulo siyempre tayo muna ang makikipag-giyera,” Brawner told reporters on the sidelines of a ceremony in Camp Aguinaldo on Tuesday, Nov. 4, kickstarting the AJEX DAGITPA, the unilateral wargames solely for Philippine forces.

[TRANSLATION: We are expecting that if war erupts, of course our troops will fight on our own first.]

“But we are also expecting reinforcements or help from our ally and this is under the mutual defense treaty,” he said, referring to the treaty with the US.

The 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) with the US provides the legal basis for each signatory to consider “an armed attack in the Pacific area on either each of the Parties would be dangerous to its own peace and safety and declares that it would act to meet the common dangers in accordance with its constitutional processes.”

“Ang utos ng pangulo… is that we should be able to fight and preserve our forces for at least 20 days, hanggang 30 days. So yun ang pinaghahandaan po natin. Kailangan ay kaya nating lumaban na tayo lang for about 20 to 30 days,” Brawner said.

[TRANSLATION: The president’s order is that we should be able to fight and preserve our forces for at least 20 days, until 30 days. That is what we are training for.]

The AJEX DAGITPA drills will run for the next two weeks, mostly in the northern tip of Luzon island, where the military beefed up its northern command.

The Philippines has been holding other joint military exercises with allies annually – with the US, Australia, Japan – and other nations where it secured defense cooperation pacts.

“Considering the threats we are facing, iko-compare natin with capability of other neighbors so marami pa tayong kelangang gawin, marami pa tayong kelangang ayusin. But as of now, personally I can say that we already are a world-class army, a world-class armed forces,” Brawner said as he gave credit to the combat and warfare skills of Philippine troops.

[TRANSLATION: Considering the threats we are facing, if we are to compare our capability with other neighbors, there’s still a lot of work to do, a lot to fix. But as of now, personally I can say that we already are a world-class army, a world-class armed forces.]

“So kayang-kaya natin. We have the capability, kaya nating idepensa ang ating bansa. Pero ang sinasabi ko po kulang pa. Hindi kaya nung current na kagamitan natin na i-cover yung entire archipelago,” he pointed out as he sought Congressional support for more defense budget.

[TRANSLATION: We have the capability to defend our nation. But we are lacking in terms of defense equipment which currently are not enough to cover the entire archipelago.]

Revisions are underway for the unilateral defense plan to extend warfare capabilities beyond air, land and maritime to cover other domains - cyber, information, electromagnetic and space.

Over the weekend, both Manila and Washington announced a broader task force that replaces the so-called Task Force Ayungin, a reference to one of the flashpoints in the West Philippine Sea where Philippine troops are garrisoned.

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, Jr. and US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced the formation of Task Force Philippines on Friday. On Tuesday, Brawner explained what that meant.

“They said it’s actually a result of the Task Force Ayungin becoming bigger and covering a bigger area not just Ayungin,” Brawner said.

“This Task Force Philippines will be a complete task force so that it will be able to address all the domains of warfare,” he said.