MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos is setting a dangerous trend for militarizing civilian functions in the name of national security, militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said yesterday.
Bayan president Renato Reyes said the Marcos administration’s so-called whole-of-nation approach to national security and counter-insurgency calls for militarization of agencies and functions.
Marcos’ national security policy (NSP), Reyes said, is dangerous as every social concern is framed as a national security issue and where military influence is expanding without limits.
“This mindset of getting the entire government apparatus to be engaged in counter-insurgency, subsuming civilian agencies to military objectives, and expanding military influence in all aspects of
government and society, is not at all new,” Reyes said in a statement.
Through Executive Order 37, Reyes said Marcos requires all government agencies to adopt the NSP and incorporate it in their programs.
He added that 21 out of the 22 departments in the executive branch of government have representatives from the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), a task force accused by cause-oriented groups of red-tagging activists.
Reyes also expressed concern over reports of the NTF-ELCAC’s push to include the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines and business groups in its executive committee as it aligns with the
expansion of the influence of the military in all aspects of society.