TRUE to its commitment to representative democracy, the 1987 Philippine Constitution subscribes to a military subordinating itself to civilian authority. In Article II, Section 3, the Constitution says that "[c]ivilian authority is, at all times, supreme over the military. The Armed Forces of the Philippines is the protector of the people and the state. Its goal is to secure the sovereignty of the State and the integrity of the national territory." This particular provision in the fundamental law of the land has been the subject of many questions by candidate soldiers and officer candidates during classroom instructions.
Freshly enlisted personnel and newly commissioned officers in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) had the misimpression that by "civilian supremacy," the military bows down to the will of the civilians. They had to be educated that civilian supremacy over the military is a principle that derives meaning from the fact that the AFP is governed by a commander in chief who is a civilian and who represents the people. It is further exemplified in the Department of National Defense (DND), whose head is a civilian, and under him is the four-star general and chief of the AFP, a bureau under the DND.
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