How’s plan vs rebellion going? AFP wants to know

The military wants to measure in quantitative terms the progress of its new counter-insurgency strategy.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has teamed up with the National Statistics Coordination Board (NSCB) to assess the Aquino administration’s internal peace and security plan dubbed “Bayanihan” six months after it was implemented.

The AFP wants to measure the effectiveness of its civil-military operations or community development projects in areas that have been freed from rebel control.

The NSCB is the country’s policy making and coordinating body on statistical matters.

Bayanihan, which took effect on Jan. 1 will be in force until the end of the Aquino administration in June 2016.

It calls for a paradigm shift by the military from the combat-focused approach it used in the past to a human security or “people-centered” approach.

It also stresses that ending the communist and Muslim insurgencies is not just the military’s concern but requires a “whole of nation” approach.

The AFP and NSCB have been meeting to come up with “data that may be utilized in evaluating the progress and effectiveness” of the military’s new strategy.

At its latest meeting last week at NSCB headquarters in Makati City, the NSCB staff led by National Statistical Information Center Director Candido Astrologo sat down with the AFP technical working group to assess the civil military operations aspect of Bayanihan.

The AFP group was headed by Col. Jefferson Omandam, executive officer of the Office of the AFP Deputy Chief of Staff for Civil Military Operations (J7), with representatives from the Civil Relations Service, Judge Advocate General’s Office, Office of the Civil Engineer, and the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Reservist Affairs.

“This collaborative effort with the NSCB is just one of the highlights of our Bayanihan plan wherein stakeholders are involved in the assessment,” AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Eduardo Oban Jr. said in a statement.

The military came out with the Bayanihan Assessment Plan in April as a guide to evaluate the new security plan.

It said that in assessing the Bayanihan, it will use indicators that are “observable, quantifiable and/or subjective” in the form of reports from military field units and surveys.

Under the slogan “Winning the peace rather than defeating the enemy,” Bayanihan demands from soldiers utmost respect for human rights and international warfare rules and recognition of peace talks with communist and secessionist rebels as the only way to end the decades-long armed conflict.

Citing historical grievances since martial law, the military admitted that “the greatest hindrance to stronger civilian-military cooperation is the continued perception of human rights violations allegedly committed by military personnel.”

It further admitted that “the decades-long strategy employed by the government that puts a premium on a military solution remains inadequate in effectively addressing armed security threats.”

Bayanihan replaced the nine-year-long Oplan Bantay Laya in the Arroyo administration that was linked to rampant human rights abuses.