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MANILA, Philippines – Days after US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said America was “doubling down” on its partnership with the Philippines, military chief General Romeo Brawner Jr. ordered soldiers assigned to the northernmost regions of the country to “start planning for actions in case there is an invasion of Taiwan.”
“[The Northern Luzon Command] is our frontliner here in the Northern hemisphere. And as we saw a while ago in their shift to territorial defense, they have gone a long long way already,” Brawner said at the anniversary of the Northern Luzon command (Nolcom) on Tuesday, April 1.
“But let me give you this challenge, this further challenge. Do not be content with securing just the Northern hemisphere up to Mavulis Island. Start planning for actions in case there is an invasion of Taiwan. okay. So we will extend the sphere of our operations,” he told the troops.
Mavulis Island is the northernmost island of the Philippines, and is part of the province of Batanes. The Philippines, amid a shift in focus to external and archipelagic defense under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., has been fortifying strategic bases and outposts, including one on the island.
Nolcom’s area of command includes the Ilocos Region, Cordillera Administrative Region, Cagayan Valey and Central Luzon. It is also in charge of several maritime features, including Scarborough Shoal to the west, and Philippines (Benham) Rise to the east.
“If something happens to Taiwan, inevitably we will be involved,” the general noted. “There are 250,000 [overseas Filipino workers] working in Taiwan and we will have to rescue them. And it will be the task of Northern Luzon Command to be at the front line of that operation,” he added.
China’s military on Tuesday said it had begun joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to “serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence,” calling Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-Te a “parasite.”
The exercises around the democratically governed island, which China views as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring under its control, come after Lai called Beijing a “foreign hostile force” last month.
The AFP chief made a direct reference to Hegseth’s remarks during a quick visit to Manila on Friday, March 28. “During his visit, he emphasized the continued commitment of the United States to the Philippines. And most of the support will be coming to this area, to the area Northern Luzon Command and in the Western Command. Of course because these are the areas where we perceive the possibility of an attack ano. I do not want to sound alarmist, but we have to prepare,” Brawner said.
Western Command, based in Palawan, covers most of the West Philippine Sea, or an area that includes the Philippine’s exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea.
“In the speech of Secretary Hegseth, he said that their objective is to attain peace through strength, peace through strength. But how do you achieve strength? Strength is achieved by preparing for war. And so we are following that, that line ladies and gentlemen. We achieve peace through strength and we achieve strength by preparing for war,” added Brawner.
Both Hegseth and his Filipino counterpart, Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, Jr. put emphasis on the threat that’s the “overreach of the Communist Party of China.” Beijing claims most of the South China Sea, including features within the Philippines’ EEZ. North to the Philippines, it’s Chinese President Xi Jinping’s dream of “unification” with Taiwan that’s become a concern for the wider Indo-Pacific.
Concern about the Taiwan Strait
The Taiwan situation — and whether China would force “unification” through invasion — is spelled out in the National Security Policy (NSP) 2023-2028 released by the administration in August 2023. In the document, the Philippines states:
“The Philippines is concerned about its economic stability, a potential influx of refugees, and the welfare of overseas populations…. Any military conflict in the Taiwan Strait would inevitably affect the Philippines given the geographic proximity of Taiwan to the Philippine archipelago and the presence of over 150,000 Filipinos in Taiwan.”
Marcos himself has said that it is “very hard to imagine a scenario where the Philippines will not somehow get involved” should tensions in the Taiwan Strait boil over. The nothernmost provinces of the Philippines, including Marcos’ home province.
Relative to Ilocos Norte’s capital of Laoag, Taipei is at least 760 kilometers away. Sansha City (through which China says it administers the features it claims in the South China Sea) is over 885 kilometers away. Mainland China is just a little over 800 kilometers away from the city of Laoag.
During Hegseth’s visit, the Philippines and the US announced that the US Special Operations Forces and the Philippine Marines would be holding “advanced bilateral Special Operations Forces training in the Batanes Islands.” Batanes has also played host to exercises under Balikatan, the flagship military-to-military joint drills between the US and the Philippines.
Philippine Marines based in Burgos, Ilocos Norte, have also been working closely with their American counterparts to re-learn territorial defense after years of focusing on counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism.
‘We’re already at war’
Under Marcos, Teodoro, and Brawner, the Philippines has been working on a shift from internal to external defense. This has, thus far, meant building on existing security and defense relationships, seeking out new partners, crafting the Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept, and revising the AFP’s modernization wishlist to suit external defense aspirations.
It has not been easy. The AFP, long lagging behind in the region, has also had to deal with the usual delays in the bureaucracy, as well as shortages in allocated funding for its modernization.
For decades, the AFP has been focused on quelling insurgencies — be it from local terror groups and the New People’s Army.
“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 ano. and when I when I talk about warfare, we are already, we 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.
“Communist China is already conducting United Front Works in our country ano. So dapat aware tayo, tayo mga sundalo, aware tayo ano. Hindi po kathang isip yun na pinapasukan na nila (It’s not a stretch to say they’ve already infiltrated the country). They’re already infiltrating our institutions, our schools, our businesses, our churches, even our ranks in the military. So kailangan nating mag matyag (We have to be vigilant),” he added.
Rappler had previously reported on a Ministry of State Security agent who stayed in the Philippines under the guise of being a news correspondent. Law enforcement agencies and the military have also made public alleged espionage operations of Chinese nationals in the Philippines, including an attempt to map the island of Luzon and efforts to spy on military and coast guard operations in Palawan.
“So in a world where the security landscape is perpetually changing, your strategic foresight ensures that we are always one step ahead,” Brawner added.
The Philippine Navy’s frontline units in dealing with an aggressive China are also set for expansion. According to the Inquirer, the Naval Forces West in the Western Command will soon be reorganized as the Western Naval Command, while the Naval Forces Northern Luzon will be reorganized into the Northern Luzon Naval Command. — with reports from Reuters/Rappler.com
