Tribute is given to the Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM) for their audacity in challenging the authoritarian government of then President Ferdinand Marcos.
Tribute is given to the Philippine Constabulary Special Action Force (PCSAF), and their allied forces such as the defecting Philippine Air Force (PAF) Strike Wing, who rose to the occasion when the time came to make a stand.
Finally, tribute is given to the government forces such as the Philippine Marine units, who in conscience remained loyal to the chain of command, but nonetheless struggled to keep the opposing human barricade of unarmed civilians safe at all times.
The article below narrates the story behind the PCSAF. pnp.gov.ph
THE BIRTH OF THE PC SPECIAL ACTION FORCE
Onward the years, Ramos was a 46-year old Army Brigadier General on the eve of his takeover as Chief of the Philippine Constabulary (PC) in concurrent capacity as Director-General of the Integrated National Police (INP). A position which he held for fourteen years. Later on, during his guard as AFP Vice-Chief of Staff in concurrent capacity as Chief, PC/DG, INP , as always, he unleashed his potentiality as a well-seasoned warrior gained through the years of field experiences obtained in Korea, Vietnam and a greater degree, as a Commanding Officer of the Army’s Special Forces against a calculating home front enemies that tries to subvert the nation’s politico-socio-eco stability, namely: the CPP/NDF and its military arm – the dreaded New People Army; the secessionist Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) led by a former ideologue UP professor, Nur Misuari, and the rising tide of criminality and lawlessness. Added to this grim everyday struggle that confronted the nation and unaware to many, was a more pressing problem within the AFP/INP establishment that should had been addressed immediately and in a drastic manner by the Marcos Administration but in doing so, it was taken lightly and complacently and in the end, paid a price worth more than the entire Marcos Administration itself turned EDSA Revolution - the historic internal bickering between General Fidel Ramos and General Fabian Ver. A controversy that brought fruition to the Philippine Constabulary Special Action Force whose counterpart is the AFP Special Forces.
What were the specific circumstances that gave birth to the then PC SAF? “An eye for an eye, a tooth by a tooth,” done in a classical cloak-and-dagger story, was the tall order during those pre-Edsa Revolution days as the Ramos-Ver controversy increasingly gripped the guardians of the nation’s security. The latter, in a “coup d’ grace” or final death blow, crippled General Ramos’ hold of the Philippine Constabulary by deactivating all the PC Brigades, the lone PC units then with a readily available combat capabilities, and converting them into territorial forces under the administrative and operational control of Ver’s organizational strategic masterpiece – the Regional Unified Commands (RUCs) whose personnel and equipage came from the different AFP branches gave raise to a composite unit. Under this trying circumstances, Ramos was virtually sitting in an half-emptied kingdom reduced of effective combat maneuver force giving Ver the edge to control the military and police establishment within his own whims and caprices. This emboldened Ramos, with the assistance of Colonel Renato De Villa’s supervision and leadership management skills, then the PC/INP Chief of Operations, providently contemplated to protect the PC/INP from further combat force reduction through an off-set method by spearheading the activation of a battalion-sized elite combat unit named as the “Philippine Constabulary Special Action Force” or acronym “PC SAF” on May 16, 1983, pursuant to HPC GO Nr 323, possessed with the following characteristics, namely: manned by qualified in-service PC personnel who are highly trained in unconventional warfare and can operate in any terrain both urban and rural, in all weather, in any war dimensions (air, land and sea); highly mobile and equipped with the best logistical materiel (firearms, communications, transportation and technology or the ability to “move, fire and communicate with precision”) available in the market.
When Marcos fell ill, Ramos and De Villa covertly and meticulously planned a contingency known as “Exercise Ligtas Isla” designed as a countermeasure in case General Ver and Imelda Marcos made an attempt to take the reins of power if Ferdinand Marcos died.
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