ABSTRACT
Civilian supremacy over the military is firmly rooted in Philippine law and tradition. An archipelago roughly the size of Arizona, the Philippines is the second most populous country in Southeast Asia and one of the region’s poorest in terms of per capita income and other traditional indices of economic development. The Philippines is a democratizing polity whose political traditions and governmental system are closely patterned after those of the United States. A closer look at the upper- and middle-echelon of Armed Forces of the Philippines from 1986 to the present, reveals an age-centered dichotomy on the “proper role” of the military vis-a-vis the civilian government. By and large, “Indonesianization” contemplates an active role for the military in the political arena, especially in the face of a breakdown or imminent breakdown of civilian authority. The historical and cultural underpinnings necessary to nurture military hegemony similar to that which exists in Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand, are simply not present in the Philippines.
