The Manila Peninsula stand-off is finally over. I must give credit to PGMA for giving the go signal for troops to flush out Gen Lim, Trillanes and the aging Teofisto Guingona in the shortest possible time.
To many, the operation might have appeared to be an overkill. But by MOUT (Military Operations in Urbanized Terrain) standards, it was a small-footprint operation designed to minimize casualties and collateral damage. To the uninitiated, it simply was another military/police operation. It wasn't. It was a deliberate attack to "secure a foothold, diminish a strongpoint and clear a building."
If you wondered why there were so many troops deployed, it is because of the military dictum that the strength of the attacker must always be at least three times that of the defender. It's the general rule. The defenders had the advantage of preparation and they were occupying what we could call a stronghold or strongpoint. Attacking a strongpoint always means numerous casualties for the attacker, hence the requirement for a big force.
Preponderance of forces is required to avoid the "culminating point" (that point in the battle when the strength of the attacker is equal to the strength of the defender, rendering the attack untenable that it has to be called off).
The attacking force needs to be big because it will further be subdivided into a base of fire, a breaching force, an assault force, a security/clearing force and a reserve.A breaching force cannot be the assault force at the same time. During the breach, ammunition wouldbe expended and casualties would be incurred. Dead and wounded cannot be attended to immediately in the heat of the battle since forces must press on the attack. A breaching force would already be too worn down to continue the fight after breaching so a fresh force is needed for the assault. A separate fresh force is also needed for clearing and security.
Fortunately the Magdalos blinked - pumiyok, nitalaw - so they never really put up a stiff resistance.
Why use armored vehicles (AVs, or simply "armor")? The ideal force mix for urban ground operations is always an infantry-armor mix or mechanized infantry. Armor provides protection for breaching forces and the advantage of shock action through speed and firepower. If you noticed, the marines and the AVs attacked the lobby "to gain a foothold" and then the SWAT assaulted the rest of the ground floor and the upper floors.
At any rate, it's good that the crisis was resolved immediately. Trillanes and company probably timed the exercise for it to fall on a long weekend, hoping to repeat EDSA 1. The next action of the government now should be to punish those responsible - after trial of course. The trial should quick and the punishment just. Otherwise we will never see no end to the military adventurism in this country.
Perhaps the military adventurists have forgotten that, "Theirs is to do and die, theirs is not to question why."
Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!
Philip S. Lapinid
Labangon, Cebu City