With high spirits, the nation greeted the year 2020 with fresh hope that life would be much better and that the world would be more peaceful than the past year. That hope did not last long as renewed human conflict in the Middle East ensued three days after New Year with the killing of a top Iranian general accused of planning and committing terroristic acts. The Americans conducted the drone missile attack outside an Iraqi airport. Similarly, a simmering conflict hovers in South China Sea with several countries posturing to protect their own maritime interest from further exploitation by China.
While situated thousand of miles apart, these two incidents could disrupt the world’s economic activities. The Middle East countries produce most of the world’s energy supply while the South China Sea provides an expeditious and safe route to a significant number of the world’s merchant fleet engaged in trade. The South China Sea also contains large quantities of fishery and energy resources that littoral states aim to exploit based on either historical or legal claims.
Advocates have defined peace as the absence of violence and the absence of fear of violence. These advocates advance de-escalation, disarmament and cessation of human conflict through the conduct and publication of peace studies. They believe that economic interdependence where everyone benefits makes war unnecessary and pointless. And to attain such interdependence, no single nation or group of nations should exercise dominance that it can “lay down the law to the rest” of the less powerful states. The 2017 Global Peace Index classified Iceland as the most peaceful country while it named Syria as the least peaceful.
Some historians argue that in the past 3,400 years only 268 years, roughly 8% of total, are considered peaceful times when there were no active conflicts (war) that claimed more than 1,000 lives. In the 20th century alone approximately 108 million people died, representing 10-20% of fatalities caused by war in the entire history of mankind. At the beginning of 2003, there were 30 wars worldwide mostly in Africa and Asia including China, India, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
Other writers contend that there were also long periods of peace during Pax Romana (200 years), Pax Khazarica in southern Turkey (250 years), Pax Britannica (99 years) and Pax Americana/Pax Europaea/Pax Atomica (1950s onwards). When the USSR crumbled in 1990s, ending the bipolar inclinations between the East and the West, many small wars emerged and continue to come out. The world peace appears to be holding but the technological advances in weaponry could threaten specific target population as well as the whole human race.
On the domestic front, the continuing peace process remains the principal mechanism to lessen the effects of local wars. The recent creation of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) hopes to establish a peaceful community that would uplift the lives of the population through efficient and effective governance of their chosen leaders. The BARMM replaced the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) established 23 years earlier.
The Philippine Government’s offer to the local communist group to create a lasting peaceful solution to the latter’s satisfaction is another matter. Whereas the Muslims sought self-governance within defined territorial boundaries, the communist groups have no clear goals of their own. The US government even tags them as terrorists, along with other international terrorist organizations, for their violent actions against individuals and communities. Numerous literature have dissected communist insurgency and made it very clear that a communist movement’s ultimate aim is to overthrow a popularly elected government and replace it with a one-party system. Mao Zedong’s protracted war strategy remains the blueprint of any communist insurgency. China’s more than half-century maritime campaign in South China Sea and its new belt road initiative are clear examples of how that strategy works.
The latest peace making approach is to involve the local government units for better coordination, and the neutralization of the armed partisans is highly commendable. In one forum, a retired senior officer wondered why the reconstituted communist movement, with lesser numerical strength than it was 30 years ago, has not been wiped out after 50 years in existence making the country one of the longest insurgency-stricken nations. He did not receive a clear answer except that “military solution alone will not eradicate the communists.”
Indeed, the defense forces have limited capability to address the basic causes of insurgency –poverty, injustice, disease, and ignorance– because their mandate is to confront only the armed opponent. The executive agencies, both local and national, should develop and implement plans to address these roots of insurgency including the occurrence of graft and corruption in their rank and file. Similarly, the courts must reengineer their systems and procedures to hasten the delivery of justice to address the frustrations and grievances of the affected parties, and live up to the expectations of the general public.
The armed forces, on the other hand, should examine their fighting power in relation to the adversary with emphasis on conceptual processes (principles of war, doctrines, and thinking processes), leadership (organizational, operational, and people), and motivation (common good, love of country, self-actualization, and compensation). When comparing the physical resources of the armed forces with that of the communists, the former shows far more superior equipment and manpower, better sustainability system, and much higher operational readiness profile than the local communists and their supporters.
The Philippines is one of the first republics in Asia, and many nations have witnessed the political upheavals it went through in times of war and peace. But its economic development is not as impressive as its neighboring nations precisely due to peace and order concerns. Peace studies find that peace and development are directly correlated. The UN report Transforming Our World: 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development states, “There can be no sustainable development without peace, and no peace without sustainable development.” The sooner every Filipino understands and appreciates this relationship, the better for the nation. Failing to do so could mean farewell to peace, progress, and stability.