ARMED Forces chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr yesterday ordered two major military units in charge of securing the country’s interests in the contested West Philippine Sea to prepare in case of an attack on the country and also in case China invades Taiwan where there are some 250,000 Filipino workers the military will have to rescue.
“These are the areas where we perceive the possibility of an attack,” Brawner said in his address during the celebration of 38th foundation anniversary of the Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) in Camp Aquino in Tarlac City.
He was referring to areas under the jurisdiction of the Nolcom and Western Command (Wescom).
“I do not want to sound alarmist, but we have to prepare,” he also said.
Brawner noted last Friday’s visit of US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in Camp Aguinaldo where he met with Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr and other defense and military officials.
Brawner said Hegseth emphasized the US’ “continued commitment” to the Philippines. He said most of the forthcoming US assistance will be going to Nolcom and Wescom.
“In the speech of Secretary Hegseth, he said that their objective is to attain peace through strength. But how do you achieve strength? Strength is achieved by preparing for war,” said Brawner.
“And so we are following that, that line ladies and gentlemen. We achieve peace through strength and we achieve strength by preparing for war,” he said.
Brawner said the military, in the past decades, has been engaged in war generally against members of the New People’s Army and terrorist groups.
“We been in conflict for several decades with our own people … Basically we were fighting with our own people,” he said referring to the NPA rebels and members of terrorist groups.
“But the next conflict, big conflict that we will be experiencing will not be against our own people. So we have to prepare for that,” he added.
Brawner did not name a specific country which will potentially attack the joint operational areas of the Nolcom and Wescom.
These two commands are in charge of military operations in the contested West Philippine Sea, where China has become aggressive in its claims over the past years.
Nevertheless, Brawner noted China’s ongoing war against the Philippines in other fields, including cyber warfare
“We are already at war. I am not referring to the kinetic warfare that we see between Ukraine and Russia or between Israel and Hamas. But we are experiencing already cyber warfare, information warfare, cognitive warfare, political warfare,” said Brawner.
He said China is conducting what he described as “united front works in our country.” He said soldiers should be aware of such activities by China.
“This is not an imagination that they are infiltrating. They’re already infiltrating our institutions, our schools, our businesses, our churches, even our ranks in the military. So we have to be vigilant,” he said.
On Taiwan, Brawner told the soldiers to prepare for the “rescue” of Filipino workers there in case of an invasion by China.
“Start planning for actions in case there is an invasion of Taiwan,” he said.
Brawner’s statement came as China conducted military drills around Taiwan.
China’s Eastern Theater Command said the exercises focused on combat readiness patrols, seizing comprehensive control, striking maritime and land targets, and imposing blockade controls.
“Extend your sphere of operations because if something happens to Taiwan, inevitably we will be involved,” Brawner said.
“There are 250,000 OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers) working in Taiwan and we will have to rescue them,” Brawner.
“And it will be the task of Northern Luzon Command to be at the front line of that operation,” added Brawner.
Taiwan’s armed forces have set up a response center to monitor Chinese military activities, the island’s defense ministry said on Tuesday, after China said it had begun joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around the democratic island.
Taiwan’s Defense Minister Wellington Koo told reporters on the sidelines of the parliament that the island’s armed forces were closely monitoring the Chinese military activities and the movements of China’s Shandong aircraft carrier group off Taiwan’s southeast.
EXERCISES
Brawner said most of the training activities that will be conducted under the upcoming “Balikatan” exercises with US will be held in Nolcom areas.
He said the military will be conducting “a full battle test” or testing of all the plans, doctrines and procedures that they have developed in the past years.
“This year we are going to test them. It is very important that we prepare for any eventuality,” said Brawner.
This year’s Balikatan is scheduled to start later this month. Navy chief Vice Admiral Jose Ma Ambrosio Ezpeleta earlier said three missile systems of the Navy will take part in the maritime strike component of the Balikatan exercise.
Hegseth told reporters last Friday that the US will deploy a Nemesis anti-ship missile system and highly capable unmanned surface vehicles for the Balikatan exercises.
“These systems will enable US forces and the Armed Forces of the Philippines to train together on using advanced capabilities to defend the Philippines’ sovereignty,” Hegseth has said.
Navy spokesman for the West Philippine Sea spokesman Rear Adm. Roy Vincent Trinidad said the military will deploy soon-to-be delivered Navy vessels to the West Philippine Sea.
“There are grey ships there (already), there will be additional,” Trinidad told a radio interview.
He said this is in line with the military’s decision to upgrade the Naval Forces West and Naval Forces Northern Luzon into Western Naval Command and Northern Luzon Naval Command. Trinidad said the move will not only elevate the rank of the commanders of these units to rear admiral, from commodore, but this will lead to more assets. – With Reuters
