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PH military learns 'high-impact activities' with allies

Philippine News Agency

By Priam Nepomuceno
October 30, 2024, 10:52 am

MANILA -- Philippine naval and air units carry out "high-impact" multilateral maritime activities with the country's allies in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), beefing up their capabilities.

"These are activities that are not commonly done by the Philippine Navy (PN) and the Philippine Air Force. This provides us the opportunity to be able to train and to engage with them," Philippine Navy (PN) spokesperson for the WPS Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad said in an interview with reporters Tuesday afternoon.

He said the "high-impact activities" include helideck transfers (landing of helicopters from the deck of one naval ship to another), boat-to-boat transfers, communication exchanges, and replenishment-at-sea exercises.

"So we consider them high-impact, meaning to say they are good learning activities, activities for us to be able to learn how to conduct them with modern navies and modern air forces," Trinidad said.

The activities, done in the western side of the Philippines, highlight the international community's desire to see that in this "part of the globe, maritime commons would remain free and open to all players in the maritime domain".

"If you notice, all of these activities are conducted (in) the western part of the country. Number One, they are within our exclusive economic zone. Number Two, they are within the bounds of international law. And Number Three, they support the arbitral tribunal ruling of 2016. They support UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea)," Trinidad said.

Countries participating in the maritime activities support the Philippines stand that international law must be observed in the WPS, he added.

Earlier, Trinidad said the country's defense shift to the Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept resulted in more interactions between Manila and its allies in the WPS this year.

From only three multilateral maritime activities in 2023, Trinidad said that there are at least 10 similar events for 2024.

In February, Teodoro announced the shift to CADC, saying this move aims to secure the country's entire territory along with its exclusive economic zone in order to ensure that Filipinos and the coming generations are able to enjoy its bounties. (PNA)