Brawner launches new career as US war salesman, talking head
Part One: Where Brawner sees war, China sees diplomacy
Romeo Brawner, obviously enthused by Pete Hegseth’s visit the week before, could not have timed his impertinent-to-peace saber-rattle addressing the AFP Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom), on April Fools Day.
The US Naval Institute headlined “Philippine Armed Forces Chief Tells Troops to Prepare For Taiwan Invasion”.
The AFP chief of staff who turns 57 this year is retiring soon, and it seems nobody can yet outdo his legacy of serving as the United States’ chief lapdog. His burst of testosterone rattled the Malaya Business Insight to mistakenly attribute Hegseth’s motherhood statement, “Achieve Peace through Strength” to his Filipino counterpart.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited Manila last week and said that “friends need to stand shoulder to shoulder to deter conflict to ensure that there’s free navigation” in the South China Sea.
Actually, he was on an armed sales mission peddling overpriced F-16s fighter jets erstwhile bound for the boneyard. The sale, however, was juiced up as a significant move aimed at bolstering the Philippine Air Force’s capabilities, particularly in maritime domain awareness and defense against potential threats, especially in the context of increasing tensions with China in the South China Sea.
Strong rebuttal
But Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun corrected Hegseth, saying “I would like to emphasize there has never been a problem with freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea.”
Despite its sovereignty claims in almost the whole SCS, China has always upheld the right of all nations to innocent passage as mandated by Articles 17 to 32 of the UN Convention of the Laws of the Seas, which regulates freedom of navigation.
In its law enforcement functions being the state that has effective control of the area, China continues to adhere to its 2002 Declaration of Conduct with the ASEAN countries.
Pertaining to the Philippines, Guo added that our cooperation with the United States should not target third parties, such as China.
“We also call on the Philippines to stop creating instability with U.S. backing, still less seek military confrontation.
”The U.S. needs to get rid of its Cold War mentality, stop creating ideological confrontation, stop sowing tension in the region and discord between its countries, and stop being the disrupter and provocateur in the South China Sea.
Pertaining to Taiwan, Guo remarked, “We urge certain people in the Philippines to refrain from making provocations and playing with fire on the Taiwan question. Those who play with fire will perish by it. We also oppose relevant personnel calling white black and making groundless accusations.”
China’s spokeman made Brawner looks like a kindergarten in foreign affairs: “The Taiwan question is China’s internal affair and is at the core of China’s core interest. Resolving the Taiwan question is a matter for the Chinese ourselves that no one can interfere.”
While I was writing this, the Philippine Coast Guard challenged the Chinese research vessel Song Hang as it passed 66 kilometers in high seas off Mappun Island in southernmost Tawi-tawi, traversing the international waters of the Sibutu Strait.
PCG Commodore Jay Tarriela, guided by his handler Raymond Powell, an retired US air force colonel now working with the UN Naval Institute, should explain where our puny BRP Malapascua gets its funds for fuel to patrol 44 kilometers outside our territorial sea.
Romeo’s hot pursuit
Brawner’s bravado was intoxicating when he told his troops, “As members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, we should have that mentality that we are already at war.”
But who would we be at war?
In the South China Morning Post, even former Antonio Carpio expressed bewilderment: “Taiwan is not a party to the MDT, so neither the US nor the Philippines can invoke the MDT in case China invades Taiwan.”
So Brawner deflects a little, “If something happens to Taiwan, inevitably we will be involved. There are 250,000 Overseas Filipino overseas workers working (there) and we will have to rescue them, and it will be the task of the Nolcom to be at the front line of that operation.”
The General, however, did not detail how the military would execute that ridiculous mission of having the AFP evacuate our OFWs, a responsibility that belongs to another government agency the Department of Migrant Workers.
It became even laughable as Executive Secretary Bersamin issued a clarification toning down Brawner’s faux pas.
Garage Sale or Highway Robbery?
Hegseth’s trip to the Philippines, was actually a marketing mission for Lockheed Martin, a preferred supplier for a Deep State arsenal.
Upon his return to Washington DC, the U.S. State Department approved a prospective sale of 20 F-16 aircraft to the Philippines, part of a larger package that includes hundreds of medium-range, air-to-air missiles, bombs, anti-aircraft guns and ammunition, worth $5.58 billion.
The Philippine News Agency was more prudent. It labelled it a possibility.
Actually, this is old hat.
In 2018, three American cabinet secretaries wrote a letter to President Rodrigo Duterte offering F-16s and other defense articles.
The former president told Mike Pompeo (State), Wilbur Ross (Commerce) and Jim Mattis (Defense), “We do not need any F-16s. It would be utterly useless to buy it, but I need attack helicopters and small planes for the counter-insurgency.”
Duterte added that our military does not need this kind of fighter jets because the Philippines is not at war with any country.
The Americans, however, are unabashed about its true intentions, which is to stimulate a regional arms race.
The US stated that the proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a strategic partner that continues to be an important force for political stability, peace, and economic progress in Southeast Asia.
By the widest stretch of my imagination, I do not see the relevance of F16s with political stability, peace and economic progress of the Philippines. In fact, the reverse may be true.
Duterte’s defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana declined the sale. “We have no enemies here. We may not even do a dog fight or maybe fight with China or any other country. So we need aircraft for dual civilian and military use.”
He said that because we are typhoon-prone and affected by many natural calamities every year, we need helicopters more for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, aside from using them against terrorists.
The Americans reiterated the offer for F16 fighter jets when Lorenzana visited Washington DC in 2021, but he thumbed down the US offer was “too pricey” and beyond our means.
Request by Philippines
But sitting Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro appears to be on a shopping spree.
According to Air Force Technology, the Philippines has requested 16 F-16 C Block 70/72 aircraft, four F-16 D Block 70/72 aircraft, and a list of associated equipment.
This includes 24 F110-GE-129D or F100-PW-229 engines, 22 improved programmable display generators, and three AIM-9X Block II captive air training missile guidance units, among other items.
All told, $5.58 billion in freaking US dollars.
That’s forking $279 million per F-16, which is a 50-year-old technology. While its airframe can last 40 years of operations, a continuing challenge is the availability of spare parts and access to upgrades because there are approximately 3,100 Fighting Falcons in operation globally across 25 countries.
Cost and upgrades are the reason that one of its operational users, Pakistan decided to partner with China in the development of the JF17 Thunder which only costs from $20 to 30 million depending on upgrades.
The JF-17 was not designed to directly replace the F-16, which remains Pakistan’s first choice when it comes to aerial operations. The F16 is primarily a fighter jet. The JF17 supplements the need of the Pakistani Air Force for multi-role duties, erstwhile performed by its aging inventory of A-5, J-7, and Mirage III.
With $5.58 billion the Philippines can already buy 279 – JF17 @$20 million, or 186 of its state-of-the art model @$30 million each, young with a technology of only 18 years.
Or if the AFP refuses any Chinese thumbmarks on the deal and wants to please Deep State favorite supplier Lockheed Martin, Marcos can also buy 159 more FA50s from its partner Korean Aerospace Industries, as we already have 11 in our present fleet.
Last March 4, one FA50 was knocked down from the Philippine Air Force inventory when Major Jude S Salang-Oy and First Lieutenant April John B Dadulla lost their lives at Mt. Kalatungan, Bukidnon during a tactical night operation in support of ground troops.
As a result of the crash, eleven surviving PAF-FA50s manufactured by Korean Aerospace and Lockheed Martin, have been grounded for three weeks for safety inspection and flight clearances.
As for F-16s, top Ukrainian ace, Pilot Oleksiy Mes, known as “Moonfish,” was killed when the US-made fighter jet he was flying, crashed last August, just weeks after the long-awaited planes arrived in Ukraine.
While it can take years to get fully trained up to fly the planes, Moonfish and others had to do it in six months.
F-16s are manufactured by Lockheed Martin.
Military debt
None of the $5.58 billion will enter the Philippines because the deal is about foreign military credits (FMCs). It is a long-term loan for gunpowder that otherwise could serve as the Philippines’ need for more light trains and other critical infrastructure, or if we need to go basics, food security.
In reality, we will be helping the US not the Philippines, solve a bit of its economic woes. FMCs create jobs in the US. A lot of money is never actually leaving the US and will go to American companies who manufacture the equipment that’s being given away.
Actually, Brawner has enrolled into a practicum as an American arms dealer and as a US talking head to drum up the scheduled large-scale joint exercises with ally the United States scheduled to begin April 21.
I would like to see this man, a few days after his retirement, to dipstick how he has launched his new life living as a civilian, with no more biblical clanging cymbals and fury, facing his own Macbeth reality check with no more sound and fury, signifying nothing.
That is when he earns a new salutation as “the former armed forces chief of staff.”
Adolfo Quizon Paglinawan
is former diplomat who served as press attaché and spokesman of the Philippine Embassy in Washington DC and the Philippines’ Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York from April 1986 to 1993. Presently, he is vice-president for international affairs of the Asian Century Philippines Institute, a geopolitical analyst, author of books, columnist, a print and broadcast journalist, and a hobby-organic-farmer.
His best sellers, A Problem for Every Solution (2015), a characterization of factors affecting Philippine-China relations, and No Vaccine for a Virus called Racism (2020) a survey of international news attempting to tracing its origins, earned for him an international laureate in the Awards for the Promotion of Philippine-China Understanding in 2021. His third book, The Poverty of Power is now available – a historiography of controversial issues of spanning 36 years leading to the Demise of the Edsa Revolution and the Forthcoming Rise of a Philippine Phoenix.
Today he is anchor for many YouTube Channels, namely Ang Maestro Lectures @Katipunan Channel (Saturdays), Unfinished Revolution (Sundays) and Opinyon Online (Wednesdays) with Ka Mentong Laurel, and Ipa-Rush Kay Paras with former Secretary Jacinto Paras (Tuesdays and Thursdays). His personal vlog is @AdoPaglinawan.
Email: contact@asiancenturyph.com
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