The Philippine military said that it will set aside a fraction of its recruitment numbers for Muslim applicants.

Marine Col. Edgard Arevalo, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) public affairs chief, said the current leadership wants a military that represents the entire country. “We desire an AFP that shall represent a cross-section of our society,” he quoted Armed Forces chief General Eduardo Ano as saying.

The Philippines’ armed service can be traced to past colonial administrations during the 1700s and late 1800s, all the way to the Commonwealth Army and Philippine Scouts of the American period. It has evolved from a force for repression to a tool for nation building. As the country developed its capacity to govern itself, it established its own armed forces during the late 1950s.

While it developed its own policies, much of the doctrines in use by the current armed forces were formulated at a time when the country was fighting separatism, particularly from the Moros or the Muslims in the Philippines.

Given that Muslims have been given a greater role in governance and nation-building, the AFP will be allocating a quota for Muslim soldiers.

“The AFP chief of staff [has] ordered the allocation of a maximum of 5 per cent of the total number of aspirants in the AFP either as officers, cadets, or enlisted personnel for our Muslim brothers and sisters,” Arevalo said.

In past administrations, significant numbers of Muslims have been taken into the ranks of the military. In the 1990s, as part of the appeasement with former separatist group, Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), several thousands of MNLF “integrees” were absorbed by the AFP as well as the Philippine National Police.

The AFP is comprised of the Philippine Army, the Philippine Navy and the Philippine Airforce, and portions of recruitment of these services would be allocated to Muslim applicants.

The AFP earlier allocated a portion of its recruitment quota to taking in women and members of the Indigenous Peoples community.

“We would like to ensure that as we modernise, we would not be focusing our attention only in armaments and equipment, but in empowering specific sectors within the AFP like women, indigenous peoples, and Muslims,” Arevalo said.

source: GULF NEWS