The Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) program to attain a credible national defense has made huge strides under the watch of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., allowing the country to respond to varied external and internal threats, AFP Chief-of-Staff General Romeo Saturnino Brawner Jr. said.

Brawner, the 60th AFP chief, took the helm of the

military organization, centering his goals on leading and shepherding a new breed of “servant leaders” in action. When he assumed his post as the AFP Chief-of-Staff, Brawner carried the principle of UNITY — unification, normalization, internal security operations, territorial defense and youth.

A unified AFP is crucial to the country’s overall mission of bringing together communities.

“Part of this is unifying and settling the conflicts within the communities, especially in the Muslim areas — and we want also to unify families — for instance, unifying former rebels with their

families. That’s for external,” Brawner told the Daily Tribune in an exclusive interview.

“Internally, I want a solid and professional AFP. As we face a lot of problems, we cannot afford to have division in our rank,” he added.

Being based in Mindanao as a field commander, Brawner saw the need to give special attention, particularly to the normalization process in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

He particularly mentioned the military’s contributions to disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of former Moro fighters, as stipulated in the Bangsamoro Organic Law.

“So it is very important that we help in the national effort for normalization in the Bangsamoro,” he said.

Internal security operations

Brawner stressed the need to continue the military’s mission against internal security threats despite being triumphant in dismantling local terrorist groups and communist guerrilla fronts.

“Even though we had a lot of gains and successes in terms of internal security operations, we have to sustain the dividends of peace by making sure that there will be no resurgence of insurgency and terrorism in our country,” he said.

Brawner touted the military’s success in neutralizing local terrorist leaders and weakening the remaining communist guerrilla fronts in the Philippines.

“We have almost neutralized all terrorist groups. We have neutralized a lot of high-value individuals,” he said.

“We have set a very good record when it comes to internal security operations.”

Amid the heightened tension in the West Philippine Sea, Brawner noted the need for the AFP to “look inward” — guarding the country’s social institutions against “infiltration, espionage and sabotage” as well as any form of foreign threats.

“We need to focus on that because, for the longest time, we have been engaged in an internal conflict. But this time, we are being threatened by forces outside our country and we have to focus on territorial defense,” he said.

Brawner touted the AFP’s continuing modernization which allows the military to become a “lethal and competent fighting force” capable of defending the territory from external aggression.

Brawner also sees the need to focus on cyber warfare as a “great equalizer” in defending the country against external threats.

He said hackers have been regularly trying to attack the AFP’s cyber system and networks, but they have not succeeded so far.

“Part of this modernization would be a focus on cyber warfare. We have great potential to be a player in the cyber domain,” he said, noting that the military organization has so far warded off attacks due to its establishment of cyber defense mechanisms.

Brawner has been pushing for establishing a Cyber Security Command, an improvement to the AFP’s current Cyber Security Group.

Banking on youth

Brawner vowed the AFP will extend significant shares in developing the youth as further leaders, responsible citizens, and patriotic defenders of our national identity as Filipinos.

Brawner has been very vocal about favoring the revival of the mandatory Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program in the country.

“We have to prepare the youth to be able to defend our country in case anything happens. This includes our preparation in case the new ROTC law is passed,” he said, vowing that the AFP will make sure that the “abuses that happened in the past” including hazing, maltreatment, and the practice of grade for sale “will not happen again.”

Vanguard of transformation

Since he took the lead in the military organization, Brawner remained committed to pushing AFP’s significant role as a “vanguard in national transformation” by encouraging brave soldiers to become “united, competent, capable, and non-partisan-steadfast” in pushing for national

defense.

Brawner’s mantra as a public servant lies in being a “servant leader” and becoming a “responsible citizen.”

“It means that if you are a leader, you are not a king. Instead, you are a servant — because as avleader, you are serving the people,” he said.

“As the AFP Chief-of-Staff, I am serving the Filipino people and our country. That is why, I wanted to spread that style of leadership in the Armed Forces. And I’m very happy that I can see that now — our new breed of leaders now, that’s how they view the current military service,” he said.

Under his leadership, Brawner wants to see every military officer grow as a leader who serves the people effectively and with heart.

Future of warfare

Brawner has been lobbying for the establishment of a Cyber Command that will consolidate all the cyber units of the AFP’s three major services — the Philippine Army, the Philippine Navy, and the Philippine Air Force.

“Now that I am the chief of staff, one of my thrusts is to develop the cyber warfare capability of the armed forces,” he said.

Brawner lamented cyber threats are evolving.

“What we need is to integrate all of these efforts because when a cyberattack happens, it does not just focus on one unit but it’s in the entire network that we would like to protect,” he explained.

He emphasized the potential of using information technology, computer science, artificial intelligence and quantum computing in warfare.

“They say this is the future of warfare. Yes, it is. That’s why, as early as now, we, in the armed forces have to develop this. Because we can fight here in the cyber domain,” he stressed.

Brawner believes Filipinos have great potential in fighting cyber threats.

“We, Filipinos, are very talented in speaking of the cyber domain. I always say the first computer virus — the I love you virus — was created by a Filipino. So, we are talented and that’s what we want to tap now because we really can do it.”

Military brat

A native of Baguio City, Brawner was a “military brat”, which pertains to those children who grew up in a family of soldiers.

Brawner is by no means a boor and never heard of being discourteous.

Defined by his name, Brawner said the careers of his uncles and his father were the “influencing factors” in his decision to become a soldier.

Also, maybe, Brawner got his bravery and courageous behavior from his African-American grandfather, Private Lisbon Brawner, who was a guerrilla fighter during World War II.

His four uncles, including his cousins, were products of the Philippine Military Academy in Baguio City.

His father was a former Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeals and a former Chairperson of the Commission on Elections.

“My father, even though he didn’t join the military, was the one who taught me the values of integrity and professionalism,” he said.

Despite having military roots, Brawner shared becoming a soldier was not his first choice. He studied Business Administration at the University of the Philippines-Diliman in Quezon City.

God’s plan

Brawner’s uncles challenged him and his cousins to take the PMA examination. They passed the exam and tried entering the academy full-time.

In 1986, during his second year as a PMA cadet, Brawner shared that he felt confused and wanted to leave the academy by deliberately failing his math subject — one of the major subjects with five units.

The Dean of the Academics noticed his deliberate attempt. He gave the Brawner a pep talk and passed him conditionally.

“I deliberately failed. I wasn’t dropped. I was conditionally passed and I took it as a divine message. I thought, maybe this is what God wants for me — a path to take,” he said.

“In hindsight, now that I’m a chief of staff —maybe this was God’s plan for me, a reason why he didn’t allow me to leave PMA even though I was deliberately failing my subjects,” he added.

While in the PMA, Brawner excelled in academics and military tactics, graduating salutatorian in his class “Makatao” in 1989.

“The PMA brought out the best in me. It brought out the potential that I never knew I had.”

“I never knew that I had that leadership potential in me,” he said, citing his previous task as a “baron” or regimental commander of the Cadet Corps at the academy.

Brawner took a Master of Business Administration at the Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand and the European School of Management in Oxford, United Kingdom and finished a Master of Strategic Studies from the United States Army War College and a Master of Science in Information Management from the Ateneo de Manila.

He also trained on the Advance Security Cooperation Course at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu, Hawaii, and had military schooling in the US for an international visitor leadership program on foreign policy and cyber security.

Before assuming staff positions, Brawner served primarily in infantry and special operations throughout his career.

Destined to walk the talk Brawner, who was known to most of his colleagues and staff as “Sir Omet,” believes that true leadership is not all about “what you say, but how you live it.”

From then on, he exists as a man in uniform who walks his talks. It was as if Brawner was destined to be installed as the top military official and acquire a four-star general rank.

He recalled a time when he thought God saved him.

In July 2021, he was one of the passengers of the ill-fated C-130 aircraft that crashed in Patikul, Sulu.

He and his family boarded the aircraft from Villamor Air Base in Pasay City and disembarked at the Lumbia Airport in Cagayan de Oro.

The accident followed after the C-130 aircraft, carrying trained soldiers assigned to the 11th Infantry Division, left the Lumbia Airport for Jolo, Sulu.

The mishap killed 50 people — 47 were military personnel and three civilians.

In October 2021, the communist New People’s Army (NPA) fired upon a Philippine Air Force helicopter, carrying Brawner, en route to visit one of the Army’s forward operating detachments in Pantaron Mountain Range, also called the Central Cordillera of Mindanao — a haven for communist rebels.

Brawner thought God had always had plans for him, so he stayed alive.

He emphasized that the lives of soldiers had never been as they sacrificed their own lives for the country and for the Filipino people.

Trailing excellence

In his stint at the Philippine Army, Brawner was designated as the Company Commander of the 6th Special Forces Company and led operations against NPA in the Caraga and Davao regions.

He was likewise assigned as Battalion Commander of the 2nd Special Forces Battalion operating in Bohol, Samar, Leyte and Cebu.

At the height of the Marawi Siege in 2017, he was designated as the Deputy Commander of Task Force Ranao and served as the military spokesperson for Task Force Marawi.

It was followed by his assignment as Brigade Commander of the 103rd Infantry ‘Haribon’ Brigade in Marawi City where he confronted the remnants of the Islamic State-inspired Maute group and led to the neutralization of Abu Dar, the last remaining original leader of local terrorists.

Among his objectives for the Brigade were to ensure the conduct of clean, honest, and orderly elections and the plebiscite for the Bangsamoro Organic Law in his area of operation; and to

effectively contribute to the rehabilitation of the war-torn Marawi City.

In September 2019, Brawner was assigned as PMA’s Commandant of Cadets. He pushed for the eradication of hazing practices of the cadet core and invoked the values of “selfless service to God and country, honor and excellence.”

“There is a need for change, and the present is the best time for reform”,he stressed.

He also served as Deputy Chief of Staff for Financial Management of the AFP, where he instituted reforms to professionalize the management of the military’s financial resources, promoting transparency and accountability.

He was a key military official who supervised military operations that led to the neutralization of the NPA’s national commander, George Madlos alias Ka Oris.

As the Army’s commanding general, Brawner fully backed the service unit’s modernization programs by bringing new weapon systems and platforms. He also pushed for reforms in the army’s financial and logistical resources.

He also significantly pushed for the development of the aviation capability of the Army Aviation Regiment.

His firm commitment to public service led him to receive notable awards, such as being named one of the Outstanding Philippine Soldiers by the Metrobank Foundation and the Rotary Club of Makati Metro.

He also received an Award for Continuing Excellence in Service.

In 2018, former President Rodrigo Duterte bestowed on him the Order of Lapu-Lapu Award for leadership.

Brawner’s military journey was tough but, in God’s plan, he made it to the top.