Support our troops

My weekend was spent in Baguio. It took me just 4 hours nonstop from end to end, going there and coming back through NLEx-SCTEx-TPLEx. Vacations in my younger days — summer, Christmas-New Year’s, and Holy Week — were spent there without fail. But as traffic built up and Baguio got congested, I visited less often. My return a few days ago, after a hiatus of seven years, was one for memory lane.

I was invited by the Breakfast Riders community of big bikers’ clubs nationwide, in collaboration with the Department of Tourism, to join their fellowship at the Athletic Bowl last Saturday. The following day, around 1,000 bikers and their backriders moved to the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), a favorite tourist destination, to watch a silent drill team and join a boodle fight with the cadets. I spoke on both occasions on how we all could support our troops.

Here’s what I shared:

Our troops — military and police — are dying and bleeding for Inang Bayan to ensure public safety and secure the Republic from terrorists, revolutionaries and insurgents, not to mention all kinds of criminal syndicates in cahoots with them. Those who died left behind loved ones in grief and at a loss how to fend for themselves without their breadwinner. Same thing applies to those who are totally disabled.

The trauma of their loss is beyond words and beyond cure especially when medical or psychosocial interventions are hard to access. It also applies to civilians as well who suffer death, injury, loss of livelihood, homes and property. The number of displaced persons from Marawi and environs is estimated at around 400,000. While the impact varies from person to person, the common denominator is that professional help is scarce or nil when needed the most.

Various speakers commended the Breakfast Bikers for their social conscience and initiative to unite the biking community. I encouraged them to unite with like-minded organizations for this noble purpose of supporting our embattled troops across the country. Unity of purpose will contribute towards national unity to overcome generational problems and threats to our safety and security. Without it, victory will belong to the enemy.

I pointed out that they could link up with Rotary Club to which I belong. The more they network, the better to cast a wider net. They could, for example:

• Organize teams of volunteer doctors and nurses for sustained medical civic action;

• build additional toilet-shower facilities in schools often used for evacuees (“bakwits”);

• build potable water artesian wells and purification systems;

• provide solar panels for basic needs (radio-tv, lighting, charging mobile phones)

• organize and deploy psycho-social teams to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD);

• provide adult members of impacted families with employment or livelihood opportunities and monthly allowances for those still in school.

Individual heads of families could mobilize their circles to think of ways to lift our troops’ morale. For instance:

• attend wakes and funerals to ease the pain of their families;

• visit the wounded in hospitals and bring them things to read, eat, drink; perhaps a little cash for their families;

• write them and their commanders thank you letters for their selfless sacrifices;

• send them inspiring music and videos to soothe them.

Joint Executive-Legislative action is strategic to ensure that our troops are provided all the means necessary for them to accomplish their missions. They must not allow our troops to be sent to battle without the adequate means to victory. A national interest mind-set and a keen sense of urgency are needed to also assure the people of their safety and security. Without it, forget peace and development.

Crucial to this is the adequacy of military and police manpower both in quantity and quality. We need more troops and support equipment for all kinds of warfare and law enforcement to defeat our enemies within and at the gates. The revival of mandatory ROTC, starting in state-owned universities and colleges, is vital step in building a cadre of patriots, young officers and responsible citizens to move the country forward. The caveat is for the AFP to field no-nonsense reliable trainers who can give a real military education.

I learned that the PMA is revising its curriculum to enable its cadets to major in humanities, engineering, and information technology. ROTC could be a four-year course that mirrors the PMA’s academic and basic military regimen built around its core values of leadership, courage (especially moral courage), integrity and loyalty. PMA only provides around 20% of the officers needed annually. The rest are procured from ROTC and Officer’s Candidate School graduates. The government should amend existing laws, rules and regulations to ensure alignment. Good training is transformative.

The LGUs, whose local chief executives head the Peace and Order Councils (POCs), have much to contribute to good government, counterinsurgency, and anti-terrorism. National agencies and civil society comprise the membership in POCs. They’re our frontliners, the first line of defense against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Honest and efficient delivery of basic services, firm law enforcement, alert emergency management, and timely intelligence will make it extremely difficult for the enemy to operate, infiltrate and entrench themselves in key sectors of government and civil society.

Those to me are the best ways to support our troops who are dying and bleeding unnecessarily because of poor governance and civics.

I took the opportunity to interview Lieutenant-General Donato San Juan, PMA Superintendent and four graduating cadets for my DZRH show on television-radio-online entitled Thinking Out Loud with Raffy Alunan. They had much to share about the PMA’s transformation journey, the focus on meritocracy and character formation, and their life in the barracks — how they fend for each other to ensure unity, solidarity and teamwork, now and in their professional life.

Watch out for it this Saturday at 4 p.m.: DZRH News Television Ch. 18 on Cignal, Ch. 129 on Sky; DZRH AM Radio 666khz; and online on DZRH News Facebook and YouTube. SUPPORT OUR TROOPS!

Rafael M. Alunan III served in the Cabinet of President Corazon C. Aquino as Secretary of Tourism, and in the Cabinet of President Fidel V. Ramos as Secretary of Interior and Local Government.

rmalunan@gmail.com

map@map.org.ph

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