Manila: President Rodrigo Duterte said he is eyeing the possibility of reviving the Philippine Constabulary, an armed service with multifarious powers and capabilities that was abolished in the 1990s.

During a speech delivered at a military camp in Mawab in Compostela Valley, Duterte said the current drive versus criminality and drugs required an armed service capable of taking on the role of the national police, as well as the military. He said this is why he is pushing for the revival of the Philippine Constabulary (PC).

“There’s a new war looming in the horizon” Duterte said as he urged soldiers to train hard and stay true to their mandate because challenges await as shown by the resurgence of terrorist attacks in the wake of the government’s war against insurgency and drug syndicates.

The President was referring to the campaign against illicit drugs and criminality, which is the centrepiece of his nearly three-month-old administration as well as the drive against terrorist groups such as Sulu and Basilan-based Abu Sayyaf and other Moro antigovernment groups.

During the period of colonisation by the United States during the early 1900s and subsequent years of the Commonwealth in the mid-1930s, the PC formed the backbone of the country’s armed force, performing national defence roles as well as counter-insurgency functions in addition to police duties.

In the succeeding years, with the revival of the Philippine Republic in the post American occupation-era, i.e. after 1946, PC shed its colonial character and performed tasks as an instrument of the state with unified roles as national police, as well as an attachment to the Philippine Army.

Some members of its officer corps were also drawn from active army personnel — thus causing an overlap of functions and confusion over doctrines to be employed.

It performed functions of police such as serving arrest warrants and community armed defence against antigovernment forces including Moro and communist insurgents.

But in the period of increasing delineation between police and the military, the PC lost its relevance as some of its members were prone to abusing their authority.

Despite being equipped with guns, the Philippine National Police maintains its civilian character.

Under the current set up, the police calls on the better-equipped military if they think they need additional force to back them up in their law enforcement operations. In the same manner, the military cannot perform police functions such as serving warrants.

Duterte said he is thinking of reviving the PC as its firepower and wide-ranging authority is important in the war versus criminality and drugs.

“This is why I am urging you to reinvent yourselves as soldiers for a new kind of war and to master the skills of profiling criminals,” Duterte told members of the Army’s 10th Infantry Division.

Currently, the Philippine National Police has a Special Action Force, which is equipped similar to the military in terms of weapons and training. However, its numbers are not sufficient to be employed on a national scale.