This article examines engagements between civilian actors, the Philippine
security forces and the US military during disaster response operations. The
Philippine disaster framework recognises the military’s role in disaster relief and has
existing mechanisms for accepting international assistance and procedures for
military-to-military cooperation in this task. The local authorities accord the military
a central role in the disaster operations, contrary to notions of it being the ‘last
resort’. Tasking and coordination proceeded separately along civilian versus military
lines, with limited interface between the two groups. The army reservists had greater
linkages with civilian actors than did the army regulars, who dealt exclusively with
the foreign teams. The US military’s activities were confined to search and rescue
and to providing critical logistics, which the Philippines actors lacked

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The increase in military deployments for operations other than war, and their co-location with humanitarian actors prompt an examination of how operational engagements are blurring boundaries between the two. Military-initiated coordination structures that bridge civilian and military spheres of activities are seen as signs of the securitization of the humanitarian space. Examining the dynamics between deployed Philippine military units and local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the humanitarian response to the 2017 Marawi siege, the former physically separated and subsumed humanitarian actions to kinetic goals. Using data from 48 interviews of commanders, NGO representatives and local government officials in 2018-2019, military-NGO interface was limited by military restrictions on mobility and by having a separate coordination platform benefiting soldiers and evacuees, respectively. Humanitarian NGOs are more willing to work with and are differential to the securitized space compared to human rights-based NGOs.

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