By the time the Russian Navy’s submarine hunter Admiral Tributs and its oiler leave the Philippines after a five-day goodwill visit, President Duterte’s dream of steering the country toward the East, away from its traditional Western allies, has also sailed.
It had steamed toward a leftist alliance with Beijing and Moscow under the guise of what the Commander in Chief has termed as an “independent foreign policy,” but which security observers and political pundits called as nothing but diplomatic “hypocrisy”.
Tributs’s exit from Manila’s waters was something to be remembered for its officers and personnel, as it was accorded by the Philippine Navy with a passing exercise courtesy of one of its aging vessels, the BRP Rajah Humabon, in a rare display of exiting honors.
Tributs, the first Russian warship to visit the country in four years and even under a first socialist President, was also accorded with welcoming rites, courtesy again of BRP Humabon and its crew.
In between these naval rites, two Japanese Navy vessels also moored in the country out of its antipiracy operations in the Gulf of Aden in the Arabian Sea, but less of the welcoming exercise by the Philippine Navy.
New security bloc in the region
Tributs’S visit to Manila has initialized the grand wish of Duterte of seeing a Sino-Russian-Philippine defense alliance or, at the least, a stronger security relations, despite the unsettled issues surrounding the South China Sea territorial dispute with Beijing.
Duterte was seen toying around with the security cooperation against the country’s traditional allies in the region that is led by the United States, factoring not even the country’s sovereignty and territorial issues with China.
The President has recently said he was keen on setting aside the decision against China on the South China Sea dispute due to “changing politics in the region.”
Manila is set to receive next year more than P700 million worth of firearms, night-vision goggles and other military equipment from China in the form of a grant, with the Chinese government promising to give even a bigger amount in the form of a soft loan should Manila still needs additional equipment.
The government is also eyeing to acquire sniper rifles and even drones from Russia, which has expressed its readiness to sell Manila with a submarine.
Duterte’s spin toward China and Russia has prompted other Asian military powerhouses to reexamine their postures, with Australia sealing an agreement with Indonesia for a joint patrol and Japan giving Malaysia with patrol boats.
Bilateral, multilateral war games
Russia wanted to maximize its revived defense and security relations with Manila by pushing for military exercises between the Russian military and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
“For sure, in the future, we’ll have exercises and [conduct] exercises with the Philippines,” said Rear Adm. Eduard Mikhailov, the deputy commander of the Russian Navy’s Pacific Fleet who had headed the officers and men of Tributs during its visit.
“Our government will be discussing…the possibilities of our maritime exercises…maybe just only maneuvering or, maybe, use of combat systems and so on,” the Russian Navy official said.
According to Mikhailov, Moscow wanted to duplicate the exercises it has been holding with the other countries in the region.
His statement comes in the aftermath of Manila’s recent decision of scaling down its military exercises with the US, except in the areas of terrorism and humanitarian assistance and disaster response.
“We will do our best from our side to help you,” Mikhailov said.
The Russian official went further by proposing for a multilateral war games with the countries involved in the South China Sea dispute joining together.
“We [intend to put all major players together and] play big, be [a] part and play [with all the] participants. For example, not only Russia and the Philippines, but Russia, the Philippines, China and maybe Malaysia together, because the main task is the safety in this region,” Mikhailov said, speaking through an interpreter.
Low morale
The swift and drastic shift toward the East or the brazenness by which the Commander in Chief was pushing the soldiers toward Chinese and Russian leanings has bear down on the morale of the members of the military, especially those assigned in the field.
The spin from Western-inspired military doctrine into pro-leftist stance has caused low morale among the soldiers, rattled by the direction of the military and exacerbated by the absence of official guidance and explanations from senior officers.
However, military public affairs office chief Col. Edgard Arevalo said these changing developments were being explained to the soldiers in the field, with unit commanders talking to their men.
Arevalo believed that the multidimensional and ever-increasing defense and security relations of the Philippines with other countries will be good for the military in the long run, depending what these states are.
He said training and cooperation with these countries “will widen the horizon” and beef up the knowledge and capabilities of the soldiers.
Image credits: Galina Barskaya | Dreamstime.com, AP/Aaron Favila