Time to review AFP
strength and recruitment – Chiz
By Office of Senator Chiz Escudero
October
21, 2011
PASAY CITY – The
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) should conduct an immediate and
total review of its actual troop strength versus its troop ceiling in
the wake of the separate deadly clashes between government troops and
the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Basilan and Zamboanga
Sibugay this week, Senator Chiz Escudero said.
The Basilan bloodbath
last Tuesday claimed the lives of 19 soldiers and six more in the
latest encounter in Zamboanga.
Escudero, chairman of
the Senate committee on justice and human rights, said it is high time
for the AFP to review its present number of warm bodies and the
vacancies for new recruits that need to be filled to strengthen the
military.
“While we commend the
gallantry and bravery of our troops for going head on in the battle
field, we bewail the fact that they were outnumbered and outsmarted in
a terrain most familiar to the enemies. Without adding anymore pain to
our troops, we now beg the question what is our military's optimal
force? Are we also filling in the yearly quota for military
recruitment?” Escudero said.
The senator
underscored the importance of this assessment to maximize the strength
and potential of the troops in the frontline and readjust it to meet
certain existing standard operating procedures in terms of troop
augmentation and recruitment.
“We need to fill in
the yearly quota for recruits so that yearly our forces get stronger
and that our soldiers are not left out there like mice caught in a
mouse trap, outnumbered by its enemies. As the country's guardians of
democracy and Constitution, we need to give them enough physical,
material and arsenal support to keep and improve their morale and
efficiency,” Escudero stressed.
Escudero said that the
AFP is in a better position to know the situation in the battlefield
need and should be able to refine its protocols given the blatant and
bold moves by rogue elements against government troops, particularly
in Mindanao.
“I urge the AFP and
also the PNP to aggressively go out there and fill the yearly quotas
for new recruits. Spend the budget intended for hiring new personnel.
Don't let the old system prevail again where the allocation for hiring
new personnel is scrimped on so that the amount can be converted into
savings and diverted to line the pockets of some unscrupulous
individuals. This has already cost so many lives and has orphaned
thousands of wives and children,” Escudero said.
