AMERICAN, Australian and Filipino troops yesterday held an air assault exercise in Rizal, Palawan, about 108 nautical miles from Ayungin Shoal in the West Philippine Sea where China harassed a military resupply mission a few weeks ago.
The exercise, held at Punta Baja Airfield in Palawan, involved Australia’s helicopter landing dock HMAS Canberra, frigate HMAS Anzac, and multi-role F-35A Lightning II aircraft; the United States’ MV-22B Osprey aircraft; and hundreds of troops from the three armed forces.
Combat troops were inserted in the Punta Baja Airfield via the US aircraft that was launched from HMAS Canberra on Sunday. The troops then established links with the 3rd Marine Brigade. Yesterday, a joint raid was conducted by forces from the three countries, with the F-35A providing close air support.
“Exercise Alon 2023” is the first amphibious exercise between Australian and Filipino troops. It opened in Darwin, Australia on August 14 and will run until August 31.
About 700 Filipino and 1,200 Australian troops are involved in the exercise. About 150 troops from the United States Marines Corps are participating but playing only a “support” role.
The conduct of Exercise Alon 2023 is part of Australia’s Indo-Pacific Endeavor (IPE) for this year. The IPE seeks to strengthen Australia’s engagement and partnerships in Southeast Asian and Indian Ocean region.
Lt. Col Enrico Gil Ileto, chief of the AFP Public Affairs Office, said Exercise Alon 2022 “is aimed at enhancing interoperability and enabling the forces to share tactics, techniques, procedures, and best practices in the conduct of amphibious operations.”
Amphibious landing and live fire exercises are scheduled to be held in Zambales and Tarlac, respectively, under Exercise Alon 2023 in the coming days.
“The scenario is assault from ship, from sea towards land. Under Exercise Alon, we used an aircraft of the US Marines, the Osprey,” said Armed Forces chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr.
Brawner said the air assault exercise is “not directed at China” whose ships harassed two Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessels and two military-chartered supply boats near the Philippine-occupied Ayungin Shoal last August 5.
He said the three armed forces are honing their skills in Palawan.
The August 5 incident involved Chinese vessels that subjected two Philippine vessels to repeated dangerous maneuvering and water cannoning. The Philippine wooden supply boats were chartered by the military to deliver supplies to troops stationed at the BRP Sierra Madre which was grounded at the Ayungin Shoal in 1999 to serve as a military outpost. The PCG vessels were merely escorting the boats. Only one of the supply boats managed to reach the shoal due to the Chinese harassment. The military said it is sending another resupply mission to the shoal because the supplies that reached the troops last August 5 were not enough.
‘BUSINESS AS USUAL’
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday played down the Australian navy deployment to the Philippines for training exercises, against the backdrop of the China tensions.
“This is business as usual, Australia conducts activities in our region,” he said.
Albanese has said he will make the first visit by an Australian leader to the Philippines in 20 years next month, to discuss defense and security cooperation.
Australia’s Defense Minister Richard Marles will travel to the Philippines to observe joint training drills focused on regional security, his office said on Monday, amid tensions between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea.
Australia holds annual defense exercises in South East Asia, although it is the first amphibious exercise – the movement of ground and air forces from ship to shore – with the Philippines.
An Australian defense statement last week said Exercise Alon will involve a “simulated, combined air assault using [US Marines Corp] Osprey tiltrotor aircraft in Palawan, a combined amphibious demonstration at Zambales and artillery and aviation live-fire serials at Crow Valley” in the Philippines.
Zambales is also near the South China Sea.
RESUPPLY MISSION
Brawner said the next resupply mission will be conducted “within the week.” On August 7, the military said the mission was going to be conducted “within two weeks.”
Brawner said it is the military’s obligation to resupply the troops at Ayungin Shoal. The troops are staying at the rusting BRP Sierra Madre.
“Definitely, we will have a resupply mission because we cannot abandon our troops there,” he said.
Brawner noted that BRP Sierra Madre is a commissioned Navy vessel and is flying the Philippine flag. “So it is our right and obligation to bring supplies to our soldiers,” he said.
In the event the resupply mission will be again subjected to dangerous maneuvering and water cannon attack, Brawner said his instruction is for the personnel not to fight back, even if they are water cannoned.
“We have water cannons but we are not going to use it (to retaliate). We only use our water cannons to save lives. If there is fire in our ships, we use our cannons to put out fire,” he said.
“We will still observe rules of engagement. We are going to avoid them to prevent an escalation of the situation. We avoid them and pursue the resupply mission. We are not going to engage them in a water cannon battle,” he said.
TAKEOVER
Brawner said the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Armed Forces have been talking to Chinese officials to tell them not to harass resupply missions to Ayungin Shoal.
Brawner surmised the Chinese want to take over Ayungin Shoal, thus they have been harassing resupply missions to the shoal.
“Our assessment is they want to take over Ayungin Shoal,” he said without elaborating.
He said the military is trying to refurbish BRP Sierra Madre to make it more habitable for troops.
“We are trying to refurbish BRP Sierra Madre because, again, it’s still a commissioned ship.
We have all the right to repair it, refurbish it to make habitable for our soldiers,” said Brawner.
Meanwhile, Brawner said he exposed China’s activities during a US-hosted gathering of military leaders in Fiji last week.
Brawner said Gen. Xu Qiling, deputy chief of staff in the Joint Staff Department of China’s Central Military Commission, said China was following international rules.
Brawner said Xu claimed South China Sea is theirs and they are going to continue Chinese activities in the area.
He said Xu also claimed that the 2016 arbitral ruling that invalidated China’s excessive claim in the South China is “invalid and it is unacceptable to them.”
Brawner said he refuted the points raised by Xu. “I said you may have historical claims on the South China (but) we also have historical claims on the West Philippine Sea.”
He said military leaders from other countries like the US, Australia and Japan commended him for exposing China’s aggression in the South China Sea.
“They said ‘that was a very gutsy but you did the right thing, we’re waiting for you to do that.’ Of course, I said we have to speak up,” said Brawner.
BUDGET
Sen. Ronald dela Rosa said he will push for a bigger budget for the country’s defense sector amid the increasing tension at the West Philippine Sea.
He said the budget for the defense sector is small as it is only 4.9 percent of the total proposed national budget of P5.768 trillion.
He said the additional funds can be used to buy equipment for defending the national sovereignty, especially that China has been harassing and bullying Philippine vessels within the country’s 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone.
The latest of such harassment was on August 5 when the China Coast Guard water cannoned a civilian vessel out on a resupply mission to troops stationed at BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal.
Dela Rosa said the country’s defense sector tasked to secure Philippine territory in the WPS can purchase water cannons so they can retaliate once water cannoned by China.
He said firing back with water does not constitute an armed attack so therefore it cannot trigger war and it will not “activate” the Mutual Defense Treaty between eh US and the Philippines.
Sen. Francis Escudero said he supports a reported plan of the US, Australia. And Japan to conduct joint navy drills in the South China Sea. He said a drill “with our allies” is a show of solidarity of support to the Philippines “and shows that we are not alone in enforcing our claim and sovereignty over the West Philippine Sea and the islands therein.”
“This is not meant to instigate but to only to show that we are not intimidated by China’s bullying despite the fact that they are a bigger, richer and more powerful country than ours,” he said.
PROMISE
A militant lawmaker urged former President Rodrigo Duterte to break his silence now that two of his predecessors have denied promising Beijing to remove the BRP Sierra Madre from the Ayungin Shoal.
Rep. France Castro (PL, ACT) said former president Duterte may have been the one who made the promise because the camp of former President Joseph Estrada and former President and now deputy speaker Gloria Arroyo, herself, have already denied doing so.
“With former presidents Joseph Estrada camp and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo categorically saying that they were not the ones who promised China that they would remove BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin shoal while President Simeon Benigno Aquino III’s administration was the one that filed the case in The Hague Permanent Court of Arbitration and even President Marcos Jr. disowning such a move, then it is President Rodrigo Duterte who is the only one left that may have made the promise to China,” she said in a statement.
Castro said that until now, Duterte or even his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, “has not been heard or issued any statement denouncing China for attacking the resupply mission to BRP Sierra Madre nor have they made any denials of any such promise to China.”
Castro also said Duterte has yet to disclose what he and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke about during his recent visit to China, although the former president has already met with Marcos and briefed him about the discussion.
The Makabayan bloc, Castro said, is considering filing a resolution to investigate China’s claim that Philippine officials have promised to remove the BRP Sierra Madre to find out who they are “or if China is just making this up.”
In November 2021, Duterte’s then defense secretary, Delfin Lorenzana, denied a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson’s claim that the Philippine government had committed to remove the BRP Sierra Madre from Ayungin Shoal.
But Castro said that on May 6 that year, Duterte called the country’s arbitral victory against China’s claims in the West Philippine Sea “a piece of paper that he can throw away in a trash bin.” — With Raymond Africa, Wendell Vigilia and Reuters
