Author name: BalangAI Strategic Security Institute

Governance & Institutions, Insights

From White Area to Gray Zone: Why Counterinsurgency Lessons Still Matter

/

The Philippine Army’s counterinsurgency experience still matters because competition often rewards those who shape the environment, not just those who win firefights. “White area operations” showed how finance, political organizing, media narratives, and legal tactics can sustain conflict below open violence. Today, similar environment-first logic appears in gray zone competition—different actors, scale—making credibility, due process, and civic space decisive terrain.

Peace & Conflict

The Last Mile: Why Peace Requires More Than Military Victory in the Philippine Insurgency

/

Military victory can silence guns, but it doesn’t finish the job. The real “last mile” of peace is governance that delivers—roads that get completed, schools that open, services that reach the far barangays, and justice people can trust. Without that follow-through, security gains fade, and communities remain trapped between fear and broken promises.

Governance & Institutions

Honoring Brig. Gen. Quintin A. Alcudia: Building the Reserve Force Across Generations

/

Before today’s Total Force posture, officers like Brig. Gen. Quintin A. Alcudia laid groundwork through quiet staff work. In 1977, he studied consolidating Regional Community Defense Units—modest but foundational. His son now commands RESCOM as Major General. Institutions are built through steady work, endurance, and multigenerational service.

Governance & Institutions

Serving the Nation: Rethinking NSTP and National Defense

/

For over 20 years, the Philippines has debated mandatory ROTC versus optional service—a false choice that misses the real problem. The National Service Training Program (NSTP) was never completed as an operational system. While CWTS and LTS produced 11.15 million graduates from 2002-2012—eight times more than ROTC—these millions remain largely unutilized. ROTC students are routinely deployed for disasters and community events; CWTS/LTS students graduate and disappear. The issue isn’t whether to mandate military training. It’s whether we’ll finish building the integrated national service system the law created—or keep wasting our greatest strategic resource: our own people.

Scroll to Top