Abstract:
This comparative study about the Armed Forces of the Philippines of the
martial law years and of the post-EDSA years attempts to present these two
periods in there political, economic, social and historical contexts.
Basically, this comparison traces the history of the present AFP; the
political-economic characteristics of the AFP during martial law and during the
different administrations after the post-EDSA Uprising; the characteristics of the
AFP at this two particular periods; the internal issues and problems within the
AFP, how it affected societal affairs and how it was affected by the existing social
situation of that time; the role of the United States to the formation, development
and the eventual prevalent relational status quo between the U.S. military and
Philippine military; and most especially, the impact of these two periods of the
AFP towards society and the Filipino people.
The researcher gathered secondary data from several textual resources
and conducted several interviews to key personalities related to the study.
Dialectical and historical materialism or DHM is the theoretical framework
of this study while the conceptual framework is based on the application of DHM
to Philippine society, the Philippine revolution and the Filipino people.
The conclusion of this study confirms the truth of the posed hypothesis,
that the AFP, as an institution, does not serve the democratic interests of the
Filipino masses composed in majority by peasants and workers. Instead, it
upholds, protects — in a violent manner — the interests of the very few, the foreign
monopoly capitalists and its local minions.
