Preatorian Tradition Part I

by Manuel L. Quezon III

---

When once an army is established, it ought not to depend immediately on the legislative, but on the executive power; and this from the very nature of the thing, its business consisting more in action than in deliberation.

It is natural for mankind to set a higher value upon courage than timidity, on activity than prudence, on strength than counsel. Hence the army will ever despise senate, and respect their own officers. They will naturally slight the orders sent them by a body of men whom they look upon as cowards, and therefore unworthy to command them. So that as soon as the troops depend entirely on the legislative body, it becomes a military government; and if the contrary has ever happened, it has been owing to some extraordinary circumstances. It is because the army was always kept divided; it is because it was composed of several bodies that depend each on a particular province; it is because the capital towns were strong places, defended by their natural situation, and not garrisoned with regular troops.
- Montesquieu
The Spirit of Laws

Yesterday was Bataan Day. Or, as it has euphemistically been renamed, "Araw ng Kagitingan," in response to the silly idea that we shouldn't commemorate defeats, however heroic (we should become ardent militarists in search of vainglory, I suppose). As usual, bemedalled veterans of WWII trooped to Mt. Samat to receive the latest installment of presidential bounty, forty years too late. What strikes me during the annual Bataan Day ritual is the preponderance of officers in gold braid surrounding the president, himself a bemedalled four-star general, as his veteran's headgear, complete with clinking decorations, attests.

We have, I would think, the second-oldest officer corps in our region, whether you date it, as the AFP does, in a case of historical fiction, to the Army of the Revolution and the Malolos Republic, or to its actual genesis in the 1930's when the Philippine Army adopted in toto American military traditions and methods. The oldest officer corps would be that of Thailand, the only country in our region never formally colonized, and which was advanced enough to have mounted a coup (the first of many that continue to the present) which reduced the Thai monarchy from an absolute one to the revered "constitutional" one it is today.

Ideally we should admire our officer corps; as Gen. Vicente Lim, hero, martyr and first Filipino graduate of West Point, wrote to his sons, "No matter how crooked, how weak the next President is... as long as the army is strong, honest, and free from politics, the nation will stand. The Army has always been the backbone of all nations, barring none in the world." Gen. Lim felt that without a principled and competent officer corps, the Philippine Army would count for nothing. This view got him into trouble, when he opposed Gen. MacArthur's national defense plan on the grounds that it concentrated too much on training enlisted reserves, and not on creating enough officers, "the most fundamental step in building up an army."

Instead, Gen. Lim fretted about the effects "half-baked trained officers" would have on the growth of the armed forces. Even during the embryonic days of the Philippine Army, the factors that would result in the officer corps becoming more of an agent for abuse and corruption than a positive one were evident. Gen. Lim, with his keen mind, revealed them in his letters. In a letter dated April 14, 1939, he recounted a meeting in Malacanang. "I told him that the tradition of this Army is to help each other, right or wrong, which is a fatal tradition, if it continues for the existence of the country." This tradition represents esprit de corps taken to absurd lengths; it continues to this day, if you believe those who have remarked that Sen. Biazon, defender of the Republic, was actively oppossed by his fellow officers, who resented his having made disparaging comments about (now senator and former putschist) Gringo Honasan. Apparently officers felt that officer's don't criticize each other, oaths to the constitution notwithstanding.

Being a true officer and a gentleman, Gen. Lim also disliked brutality and in the Army. In a letter dated February 1, 1941, already thinking ahead to the inevitability of war, he wrote, "I noticed that non-commissioned officers following the line of least resistance to acquire obedience to their orders use their fists and do bodily harm to subordinates. Abuse of authority is rampant in this Army; the whole structure of our discipline is based on fear... fear of loss of money; fear of privilege taken away; fear of the power behind authority... A man can be led, although I admit it to be rather difficult and tedious, in the right direction through sound reasoning and confidence in the leaders." Lim prided himself in attempting to lay the foundations for the eradication of army brutality; he hoped it would be one of his legacies, but it did not outlive him. It has even spread, as deaths due to the hazing of military frat members attests.

There is much to marvel at in Gen. Lim, as he represented the qualities of an ideal officer: pride in his calling, skill in the military sciences, a great, disciplined intelligence, a devotion to duty and constitutionally-ordained authority, as well as humility and compassion. Men like him achieved glory in Bataan, defeat or no defeat.

It is also interesting to see that being the exemplar of the compleat officer, he also articulated the military mentality when it comes to the role of the army in society the military view of politics, which persists, and has gone out of control, at present.