Date of Publication
7-27-2024
Document Type
Bachelor's Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts in History
Subject Categories
Other History | Political History
College
College of Liberal Arts
Department/Unit
History
Thesis Advisor
Arleigh Ross D. Dela Cruz
Defense Panel Member
Marlon S. Delupio
Marcelino M. Macapinlac Jr.
Abstract/Summary
The AFP Modernization Act of 1995 (RA 7898) was heralded as a landmark national policy. It was passed at a time when the South China Sea dispute started to escalate. The law provided a 15-year preparatory period for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to modernize its weapons and equipment with the end view of improving the country’s external defense capability. Moreover, the law allocated Php 331 billion budget for the three major services and the General Headquarters (GHQ). However, the law expired in 2011 with only Php 35 billion being released or roughly 10.5 percent of the entire proposed budget. Thus, only 278 projects were completed from the 504 proposed activities. With Toynbee’s Challenge-Response Theory as a conceptual framework, this descriptive-qualitative study traced the legislative history of RA 7898 and determined other circumstances behind the failure of policy. By analyzing the major policy and operational challenges related to the modernization of the AFP throughout the different administrations, several red flags were identified that were indicative of policy failure. Among these were the budget constraints that existed even during the Commonwealth Period, creation of bureaucratic layers that further complicated the already convoluted government procurement system, and a mendicant foreign policy that resulted in over reliance on US military dole outs of surplus and obsolete equipment and technology. It turned out that many of these challenges were not actually resolved but just exchanged hands from one presidential administration to the next. On the other hand, the history of AFP modernization was not full of losses. Conversely, the study also highlighted the gains of the government such as the Self-Reliant Defense Posture (SRDP) Program with its emphasis on local manufacturing, policy reforms that streamline the procurement process, savings due to bulk purchases, and the soldiers who were noble enough to carry on with their mandate despite being branded as “sundalong cinco” or “ragtag army.” These could not be achieved without the political will and a vision of having a better and more capable AFP.
Abstract Format
html
Language
English
Format
Electronic
Keywords
Legislation--Philippines--History; Philippines. Armed Forces; AFP Modernization Act
Recommended Citation
Kahulugan, J. C. (2024). A history of the AFP modernization act (RA 7898): Context, framework and implementation, 1995-2011. Retrieved from https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etdb_history/27
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Embargo Period
7-26-2024
