By Adolfo Quizon Paglinawan

 

Series 8: Forever Peace or Forever Wars

If Ferdinand Marcos would ask Fabian Ver to jump off the building, he would ask, “from what floor sir?” If Bongbong Marcos would ask Romeo Brawner to jump, he would snap, “I am already on the seventh floor, sir.”

It may be said that most human rights violations, especially the tortures perpetrated by the military  under Marcos Sr could be traced to the ruthlessness of General Ver. The same accountability may be thrown in the case of General Brawner but with a twist. In the face of all the unprecedented corruption, human rights violations, warmongering and consequent economic disaster perpetrated by Bongbong, Brawner just sat on his armchair, looked the other way and did nothing.

Ver was guilty of commission, Brawner cowered behind omission.

Retirement of a coward

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff General Romeo Brawner Jr. retires on July 21, 2026, culminating over 41 years of military service. He is the first AFP chief to complete a fixed three-year term under Republic Act No. 11939.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has not yet named his successor, though expectedly, the beleaguered Commander-in-Chief is evaluating candidates based on least political liability and maximum canine loyalty to the presidency.

During his testimonial parade and retirement ceremonies, Brawner received a specific PMA Alumni Homecoming award that was officially designated as “Outstanding,” rather than “Most Outstanding”.

Certainly not ‘most’ outstanding

Following his departure from the military, he has stated he intends to transition into civilian life rather than immediately pursuing another government post. That’s good, he is a deadwood anyway.

Retired Brigadier General Orlando de Leon taunts him in his Facebook post: “I am officially calling General Romeo Brawner a ‘coward’, who throws his soldiers and subordinates under the bus just to save his neck.

“Mr. Brawner, you don’t deserve your designation as Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. In fact, you don’t deserve the respect of the whole soldiery. No wonder that you avoided hazardous duty all your life because you lack the wherewithal to lead, much less to uphold the morale of your troops.”

“You are nothing but a bootlicking four-star disgrace.”

Brawner’s loyalty to Marcos is unquestionable. Under his term, AFP or the Armed Forces of the Philippines was prominently renamed by netizens as the “Armed Forces of the President”.

National plunder

The retiring general was appointed 60th AFP Chief of Staff on July 21, 2023. It was under his watch that the anomalous budget insertions were exposed by VP Sara Duterte, who was then resigning her concurrent appointment as Secretary of Education as year later on June 19, 2024, alleging that House leaders manipulated the DepEd’s budget by inflating allocations for classroom construction in favor of the Department of Public Works, which allowed them to control billions in public funds, adding she could not defend a budget manipulated by others.

Specifically, the vice president accused House Speaker Martin Romualdez and House Appropriations Committee Chair Elizaldy Co of orchestrating the anomaly.

Nobody, not even her replacement Sonny Angara, picked up the otherwise controversial exposition.

But God was not sleeping.

On July 22, 2024, President Marcos highlighted on his third State of the Nation Address that the government had finalized these 5,521 flood control initiatives between July 2022 and May 2024 to mitigate the impacts of the La Niña phenomenon.

However, just days after his speech, Mother Nature took over to intensify the decibels reverberating the expose of the Vice President and bloating it to unprecedented proportions.

Typhoon Carina and the intensified southwest monsoon caused severe, widespread flooding across Metro Manila and neighboring provinces. This timing could not be otherwise than providential, leading to intense public uproar, scrutiny and questions. about the effectiveness of the completed 5,500 projects. Ghost, unfinished and substandard projects started coming out with millions of views in social media platforms.

In response to the backlash and subsequent flooding, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) lamely justified that the 5,500 projects were stand-alone “immediate relief” interventions designed to protect low-lying areas, mindlessly confessing they were not part of a fully integrated master plan.

Still, massive public uproar attacked flood-control projects exposing widespread failures. Social media posts accused politicians and contractors of pocketing public funds, labeling them as guilty of “economic sabotage” and targeting:

• “Ghost” and Substandard Projects: Netizens highlighted infrastructure that was incomplete, poorly built, or never built at all. Investigations later revealed hundreds of unverified “ghost projects” nationwide.
• Ostentatious Congressmen: Watchdogs shared photos of legislators wearing ultra-expensive designer accessories. For example, sharp-eyed netizens spotted Manila representative Benny Abante wearing luxury timepieces—including pieces from Patek Philippe, Rolex, and Richard Mille priced in the millions of pesos and owning bulletproof Cadillac Escalade SUV and a Jaguar.  Abante was targeted because he is a religious pastor, leading many critics to argue that flashing extreme wealth heavily contradicts the biblical teachings of humility.
• “Nepo Baby” Shaming: Public anger targeted the children of top public works contractors and politicians. Social media users scoured TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook to expose the lavish lifestyles of the officials’ children who flaunted designer clothes and European vacations, coining a moniker expressing they are “babies benefitting from nepotism”.
• Unexplained Lifestyle: Online communities circulated information showing the drastic jump in the wealth of certain lawmakers alongside the billions spent on the national flood-control program. Critics flagged down Marikina Representative Stella Quimbo, questioning her transition from a modest teacher’s lifestyle to owning designer goods after becoming a lawmaker.
• Memes and AI: Netizens created and shared AI videos and graphics depicting corrupt politicians as crocodiles—a widespread symbol of greed.

The massive digital outcry spilled into the streets with mass protests in Manila.

Malacañang was so overwhelmed that in his fourth State of the Nation Address in order to shield the Presidency from the combination of his incompetence and complicity, Bongbong Marcos feigned himself as the “whistleblower” of a national plunder that blasted the ceiling to near two trillion peso-mark.

To divert attention and cover-up the historic mess, Marcos weaponized the government to bend the law, quell dissent and opposition, violate citizens’ rights, sink the economy and push the country close to war.

Bending the Law

Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has abused the powers of the Philippine government to shield his family and allies from corruption charges. Critics point to his control over key agencies, dismissals of cases, and his handling of legislative and executive powers:

• Executive Restructuring: On his very first day in office, Marcos Jr. issued Executive Order No. 1abolishing the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission. On the same day, he appointed two key officials fired by President Rodrigo Duterte from his cabinet, whom Congressman Rolando “Nonoy” Andaya, as chair of the House Committee on Appropriations exposed to have masterminded the 2019 budget insertions for flood control projects: Ben Diokno as finance secretary and Amenah Pangandaman as budget secretary.
• Judicial and Forfeiture Dismissals: Over the course of his presidency, courts dropped several long-standing asset claims and forfeiture cases against the Marcos family. The administration maintained that the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) simply lacked the fresh evidence needed to continue the decades-old trials.
• Targeting of Top Opposition Leaders: The classic example of this is the Siege of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ in Davao City, mobilizing five thousand members of the Philippine National Police just to serve a warrant of arrest to one person, Pastor Apollo Quiboloy. This was outdone in spectacle in the joint operations of the DILG, the PNP Chief, the DOJ, the DND Secretary and the National Security Adviser, among others, to kidnap former President Duterte and surrender him to the International Criminal Court in the Hague, Netherlands.

• Impeachment Issues: Controlled by his cousin Martin Romualdez, the House of Representatives dismissed multiple impeachment complaints brought against Marcos Jr. The House Committee voted to block them from moving forward, impeaching instead Vice President Sara Duterte for much lesser offenses.
• Creation of a Palliative: In response to public outcry over massive flood control expenditures, Marcos Jr. formed the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) which was used to selectively prosecute lower-level contractors and rival politicians while shielding top presidential allies.
• Trump-up Cases against Dissenters and Whistleblowers: Netizens and social advocates have publicly accused the Marcos Jr. administration of using the justice system, specifically the Office of the Ombudsman and the National Bureau of Investigation to silence and arrest those who speak out against administration abuses.

Economic on verge of collapse

Despite the report of the Philippines entering the upper-middle income category, with its gross national income (GNI) per capita reaching $4,850, exceeding the $4,636 threshold in the World Bank’s latest classification, this macro-economic figure does not reflect the actual state of the living conditions in the country. GNI reflects a figure divisible by the total population, it does not give a picture of the grim distribution of wealth based on socio-economic status.

 The truth is In the Philippines, less than one percent of the population holds or enjoys the vast majority or roughly 90% of the nation’s total wealth. While the country’s average economy is growing, this extreme gap means a few elite-families control most of the money, leaving the working class with very little. To illustrate, Meralco made about P50 billion in net profits last year, while most consumers could hardly pay their electric bill.

Truth to tell, Capital Economics, a British think tank warns that the Philippine gross domestic product is only projected to make the 3% mark at the end of 2026.

What does 3% mean? This figure is below the year of the Covid pandemic and the lowest since 2009.

Developing economies like the Philippines generally require higher growth (typically 5–6%+) to continuously reduce poverty and elevate living standards across the archipelago. For the average Filipino, 3% growth against the backdrop of elevated inflation that  translates to a higher cost of living without a proportional increase in real wages.

With a lower economic expansion rate, fewer jobs are generated. This can lead to higher underemployment, especially as the young and growing workforce enters the labor market. Economists attribute this downgrade to external pressures like global oil shocks and geopolitical conflicts, alongside domestic issues like supply chain disruptions, severe weather events (typhoons), and sluggish government spending.

The Philippines lags behind its Southeast Asian peers in capturing the economic benefits of regional trade integration and supply chain shifts. While neighbors like Vietnam and Indonesia secure booming manufacturing investments, the Philippines struggles to integrate into regional export ecosystems due to high logistics costs, limited energy options, and regulatory hurdles.

Brink of Regional War

Last May. Brawner warned that Filipinos should adopt a wartime mindset amid what he described as ongoing political, economic and information warfare linked to tensions in the so-called West Philippine Sea and broader security threats facing the country. But he has defined “security” only as it relates to the military and “overstretched sovereignty” and defending a mythical expansion at sea, but forgetting the welfare of the people.

In a speech delivered by Lt. Gen. Arvin Lagamon, commander of the Civil-Military Operations Command, before a CSIS-Stratbase forum, Brawner expressed the Philippines was already confronting “political war,” “economic war,” and “informational war”.

But, “not yet a kinetic war!”

The AFP chief said modern threats now cut across maritime, air, land, cyber and information domains, allowing adversaries to challenge countries without openly declaring conflict. Did he even copyread this trash?

On April last year, Brawner Jr. on Tuesday told Filipino troops  in the Northern Luzon Command, to start planning for actions in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.

His slip of the tongue was based on a wrong presumption that Nolcom’s task to be in the frontline of rescuing our 250,000 overseas Filipino workers in that island. This is erroneous because that mandate belongs to the civilian offices of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei and the Department of Migrant Workers.

This statement is a political statement, in fact bordering on foreign policy linking geopolitics with local governance preparedness.

To prove this point, Brawner affirmed the militarization designs of Secretary Gilbert Teodoro and the Americans pertaining to the Batanes Islands. In October 2023, the AFP inaugurated the Mavulis Island naval detachment, to prepare for the change of military operations from internal security to external defense, and “strengthen the defense in Northern Luzon”.

Combined U.S. and Philippine forces also built a forward operating base in Mahatao on Batan Island highlighted by a “civilian sea port”, and built an airfield in Basco, Batan allegedly to secure these strategic islands just south of Taiwan.

According to Brawner, these structures serve as pivotal outposts for patrolling the Luzon Strait. Is he kidding us? I would put monitoring devices and surveillance equipment and personnel there to watch the Bashi Channel but I will not invest a taxpayer’s centavo building structures there that I cannot defend and costs an arm and a leg to maintain.

In one major drill off the coast of Itbayat, American forces used a Ukrainian-made Magura unmanned surface vessel (sea drone) to sink a decommissioned target ship. The location of the exercise raised many eyebrows.

Batanes sits south of the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait, closer to Taiwan than the Philippines. It proves that Philippine defense planning is no longer focused on the South China Sea but Manila is being drawn by the United States strategy for wider regional scenarios that may affect the country’s northern waters.

The US military forces’ launching of war games there is a clear provocation and challenge to China, and is part of the US’s push for Taiwan to break away from China. This is contrary to the “one China policy” that both the US and the Philippines recognize.

Weigh this going forward into a shooting war, sparked no longer by China reunification issues with Taiwan, but by escalations following the surrogation by the United States of an East Asian war to Japan, the Philippines and Korea.

In the Marcos pact with Japan prime minister Sanae Takaichi, the delimitation merger of the “northern EEZ” of the Philippines with the southern  EEZ of Japan, disregards China that is spot-on the middle of the proposal. Article 74 of UNCLOS makes it impossible because there can be no overlap between Japan and the Philippines, without them first overlapping with China.

Commanding General Xavier Brunson of US Forces in Korea is also trigger-happy about a “kill-web”  among the three countries aimed at China. Brawner is ecstatic over this interoperability gambit, as it includes space technology, but I doubt his pea brain understands its implications.

I would like to ask Brawner: Who first militarized the Batanes Islands? Manila (for the Americans) or Beijing?

My question is what happens after the first shot in an actual combat? Militarizing Batanes is a death wish. If and when China takes over the Batanes Islands because of our provocations that could end up in standoff, just as it happened in Scarborough Shoal, how does he propose to take it back?

Does he know that Sabtang, the southernmost island of Batanes,  is well within the EEZ of Taiwan but is beyond 200 nautical miles off Cagayan? Does he know that the Batanes group is not within but over the top of the 20^th degree parallel limits of the 1898 Treaty of Paris, serving as the boundary of our national territory?

Besides, aside from press releases, where are the deliveries of military assets for AFP modernization under his command that cannot be traced to earlier presidencies? Shift from internal counter-insurgency to external defense, what is that but verbiage? All he did was watch the Americans sell him a lot of their phallocentric missiles which we can ill afford to replace after a single launch.

Harpoons, Maguras, Himars, NMesis, and Typhon are lots of hot fart!

Conclusion

To sum it up, the economy is on the brink of collapse, the people extremely polarized as selective justice supplants law enforcement, and society is like a volcano on the eve of an eruption, maybe even of a regional war not of our making, while the Marcos government is in shambles whose first priority is to cover-up for the trillions in plundered public funds mired in the flood-control scandal and wasted in syndicated corruption, by forcibly convicting an impeached vice president on trumped-up charges albeit being the only one still capable of undoing the ruin he has brought to this country.

This is why I was surprised when Brawner admitted that restiveness has begun to ripple through the military ranks, and yet he could not even withdraw support from Ferdinand Marcos Jr., when his predecessor General Angelo Reyes, abandoned Joseph Estrada on January 19, 2001 for much less betrayal of the people?

His great grandfather, an imported Buffalo Soldier deserted the US Army by eloping with a lady from Asingan, Pangasinan. That is more incongruent, but Private Lisbon Brawner showed he had balls.

By his own words, the following video evidences how gutless and hollow his grandson who made it to chief of staff is, saying “Of course, we see what is happening to our country. We are not blind or dumb. We know what is happening. But we are not mandated to know about politics. That is not our mandate.”

This government itself has destroyed the rule of law and social order in the country and he calls it politics?

The national plunder is not politics, the weaponization of the power of the government is not politics, violation of citizens’ Constitutional and human rights is not politics, oligarchs in cahoots with politicians ushering an economic collapse is not politics.

But engaging in geopolitical debate is politics that unfortunately takes us to the brink of a hot war.

So, you call that professionalism? You plan to defend the country for only the first 30 days? Your knowledge of war history sucks. The Japanese Imperial Army invaded Batanes on Day One of World War II, the day they started bombing Pearl Harbor and American bases in the Philippines. It took General Masaharu Homma only 25 days to capture Manila using a century-old technology, some Japanese just riding bicycles after landing at Lingayen Gulf on December 24, 1941. China can demolish all your American EDCA sites in less than 30 minutes!

Paradoxically, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is the protector of the people and the state. This is declared in Article II, Section 3 of the Philippine Constitution but your nitwit interpretation allows only protection from outside aggression.

What is your mandate? Taking orders from an incapacitated president and his bozo Maltese defense secretary? The inter-operability this country needs, far exceeds the smell of gunpowder, but coherent and constructive structural, economic, social and security programs that uplift the nation. Not virtual warfare against an enemy not of our own making!

The indictment nags – you were absent in the real battle front – you have failed the State when the people needed you most!

You were blind and dumb.

Indeed, you are a four-star disgrace to your uniform.

   

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