Joint Operations in the Armed Forces of the Philippines

Command and support relationship in the Armed Forces of the Philippines dictates
that the Major Services composed of the Philippine Air Force, the Philippine Navy and the
Philippine army shall take the role of force provider; while the Unified Commands (UCs)
shall be the Force Employers. The force providers are tasked to develop, organize, train,
and equip forces. These forces will then be allocated to the six (6) UCs as follows;
NOLCOM, SOLCOM, WESCOM, CENTCOM, EASTMINCOM and WESTMINCOM. The
UCs have the authority to employ/deploy forces in order to achieve a desired strategic
objective.
Joint operations is a young concept in the AFP. Although the doctrine has long been
established, its actual application by UCs is still at its infancy. This could be attributed to the
preoccupation of the AFP units to the anti-insurgency campaign which have forced the UCs
to employ infantry units/formations to accomplish the objective. Joint force mix is limited to
sharing of intelligence and Close Air Support missions. Joint planning is seldom conducted
in the past, such that there was a degradation of Joint Operations Planning capability.
The AFP Transformation and modernization program; as well as the developing
territorial dispute in the West Philippine Sea brought to fore the need to simultaneously
develop the external defense capability of the AFP in congruence to the current internal
security operations. This brings to light the need for effective conduct Joint Operations
Planning and Execution especially at the Unified Command level. Nevertheless, the AFP
already gained headway in infusing Joint Operations into its core competency. The creation
of the Joint Special Operations Group ensures the integration of Special Operations Forces
and easy coordination, employment and deployment to the Unified Commands. Likewise,
UCs like the Western Mindanao Command have also started active employment of Joint
Forces in the execution of tactical/combat missions with greater rate of success. With these
developments, the future of Joint Operations in the AFP is indeed becoming brighter.
TERENCE P YLANAN
MAJOR
(INF) PA