THE United States has deployed three aircraft to help in the ongoing search and rescue (SAR) operations for four Filipinos who went missing after a yacht sank at the vicinity of Tubbataha Reef in Palawan last Sunday.
The aircraft are stationed in the country under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).
Col. Jorry Baclor, chief of the AFP Public Affairs Office, said the US aircraft are complementing Philippine military air and naval assets involved in the efforts to locate the missing passengers of MY Dream Keeper.
The yacht left Cebu City last Thursday and arrived in the Tubbataha Reef area on Saturday night. It was reported to have sunk four nautical miles from the reef on Sunday morning.
Twenty-eight of those onboard have been rescued by the Coast Guard. The missing passengers include the yacht owner, two guests and a dive master.
Baclor said EDCA sites in the Antonio Bautista Air Base in Palawan and the Benito Ebuen Air Base in Cebu were “used as staging areas to help in the search and rescue operations for missing divers in Tubbataha Reef.”
“Three US air assets stationed in Antonio Bautista Air Base, Puerto Princesa and Benito Ebuen Air Base in Mactan, Cebu are being utilized to help in the ongoing mission to find four missing Filipino divers after their boat sunk in Tubbataha on April 30,” said Baclor, without elaborating on the US air assets employed.
The two sites were among the five EDCA locations approved during the administration of President Aquino. The three others were the Basa Air Base in Pampanga, Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, and Lumbia Air Base in Cagayan de Oro City.
Last month, Malacañang announced four additional EDCA sites at the Lal-lo airport in Lal-lo, Cagayan; Naval Base Camilo Osias in Sta Ana, Cagayan; Camp Melchor Dela Cruz in Gamu, Isabela; and Balabac Island in Palawan.
EDCA allows the Americans to pursue at the agreed sites various activities, including training, transit, support and related activities, refueling of aircraft, bunkering of vessels; temporary maintenance of vehicles, vessels, and aircraft; temporary accommodation of personnel, communications; prepositioning of equipment, supplies, and materiel; and deployment of forces and materiel.
The agreement also permits US to preposition and store defense equipment, supplies and materiel, including but not limited to, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief equipment, supplies and materiel.
“The responsive United States-Philippines combined inter-agency operation utilizing EDCA locations was carried out at the request of the Philippine government,” said Baclor.
Baclor said the Palawan-based AFP Western Command has deployed Navy ship BRP Carlos Albert, a Sokol helicopter, and an AW109E helicopter for the search and rescue operations.
