Sea reservists: DND wants you
‘Yes. Many fisherfolk have expressed willingness to help us. It doesn’t mean they have to fight because they are in the area. That’s not the concept.’
Daily Tribune‘Yes. Many fisherfolk have expressed willingness to help us. It doesn’t mean they have to fight because they are in the area. That’s not the concept.’
Gilberto Teodoro
The country's military reservists are being reoriented to be effective "not only on the ground but particularly in the maritime domain," Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said.
There's an ongoing redesign of the reserve force paradigm of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to "fit in the current security situation" confronting the country, according to Teodoro.
Teodoro made the statement during the culmination of National Reservist Week at AFP General Headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City on Saturday.
The defense chief described the calibration as based on what the country needs to further improve its credible deterrent posture and the ability to protect its interests.
"In doing so, this time, we must rethink our reservists' paradigms. And so we are in the process of redesigning the reserve force based on the leads of the time and not based on an old-dated paradigm…that may not be valid anymore," he said.
Complementary role
Teodoro has ordered the "designing of a future reserve force" to complement the regular AFP force and ensure service continuity, in which the civilian parallels the business service continuity "so that there's a subdivision of functions."
The redesign, he said, includes effectively tapping into the reserve force's various human skills and building up land military civil defense units within communities.
"This is to secure our communities through the benefits of the laws of war that they may not be combatants' end-targets for hostile actions," he added.
Teodoro said he has tasked the Office of Civil Defense to merge and synergize the development of the civil defense units that will be based in the communities, municipalities, and provinces.
These CDUs will manage local disaster risk reduction systems, provide security, and enhance first responders' capabilities in communities in cooperation with military forces as well as the reserve forces.
"We encourage our reservists to help in formulating plans for our strategic development in the future as this is a collaborative effort," he added.
Meanwhile, AFP Chief, Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., said the military organization is open to redesigning the reserve force paradigm.
"Well, we welcome that. Because we saw that the problems we are confronting now in our country are different from the previous problems we faced before — this time we are facing more challenges that are global," he said in a media interview.
Brawner said the AFP is not only focusing on improving the reserve force but also working on enhancing the regular force.
"We want to develop our total force. That means the reserve force and regular force are not separated from each other. We are one Armed Forces of the Philippines, if ever that emergency or any threat comes to our country… reserve forces, even the citizens of our country, should get together and work together for the defense of our country and the promotion of our national interest," he said.
He added that this effort would help the entire country address emerging security threats, whether internal or external.
Further, Brawner confirmed the AFP still plans to tap fishermen in the West Philippine Sea to be part of the military reserve force.
"Yes. Many fisherfolk have expressed willingness to help us. It doesn't mean they have to fight because they are in the area. That's not the concept," he said.
"But they can help us in terms of gathering information and making sure that we have a presence in those areas so we can say that those areas are ours," he added.
Earlier, AFP Western Command Chief Vice Adm. Alberto Carlos said the military is exerting all efforts to increase the country's presence in its territorial waters.
Carlos said the AFP is eyeing to increase the number of Filipino boats and fishermen in the country's exclusive economic zone in WPS.
"We have ongoing efforts to convince our Filipino fishermen to fish in the WPS para ma-exercise natin 'yung atin (so we can exercise our) sovereign rights to fish," he said.
Carlos said that among these efforts are the effective control of all islands now occupied by the Philippines in the WPS, establishing a more robust naval presence, and enhancing maritime domain awareness in these areas.
The AFP previously reported more than 400 foreign vessels swarming in the Philippines' features of the WPS and destroying corals at Rozul Reef and Escoda Shoal.
