VISITING Japanese defense minister Gen Nakatani yesterday toured two key military facilities in Luzon, including a designated site under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) between the United States and the Philippines.
The Philippines and Japan signed in July last year a reciprocal access agreement which will pave the way for the conduct of military exercises between the two militaries. The agreement was approved by the Philippine Senate last December and is awaiting action from Japan’s National Diet.
Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr, who accompanied Nakatani during the visits, said he and the minister are set to meet today and discuss “regional security, bilateral cooperation, multilateral cooperation, defense industries, and some other topics.”
“We will talk in depth about enhancing bilateral, trilateral, and squad cooperation, not only between Minister Nakatani and myself but also between him and the President,” he added.
Nakatani first visited to Basa Air Base in Floridablanca, Pampanga where he was given a “guided tour” of the facility’s “operational capabilities and ongoing defense initiatives,” the Department of National Defense (DND) said.
Basa Air Base is one of the nine EDCA sites where the US is allowed to put up facilities for prepositioning of assets for territorial defense and disaster response operations.
The eight other EDCA sites are Benito Ebuen Air Base in Lapu-Lapu City, Antonio Bautista Air Base in Palawan, Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, Lumbia Air Base in Cagayan de Oro City, Lal-lo airport in Cagayan, Naval Base Camilo Osias in Cagayan, Camp Melchor dela Cruz in Isabela, and Balabac Island in Palawan.
From Basa Air Base, Nakatani and Teodoro proceeded to Wallace Air Station in San Fernando City, La Union.
“The visit also included a tour of the Air Defense Simulation and Wargaming Center, which plays a key role in military training and strategic planning, and the mobile radar installations which are vital for monitoring and securing Philippine airspace,” said DND spokesperson Arsenio Andolong.
“With the recent Philippine Senate concurrence on the Reciprocal Access Agreement between the two countries, both officials discussed and explored ways in advancing strategic defense partnership, particularly on maritime and air defense, capacity building activities, and regional security initiatives,” he also said.
Teodoro, in an ambush interview after the visit in La Union, said he and the minister “also took this opportunity to see how far we have progressed also on the deliverables of the different Air Force and other Armed Forces units insofar as I’m concerned.”
Japan has transferred radar systems to the Armed Forces over the past years to improve the Philippine military’s maritime domain awareness.
“Domain awareness is extremely important so that we have a picture of what is happening on the airspace, principally on the airspace within our Philippine air defense identification zone. Because if we are not aware then we will not know what threats exist. So we are making our capabilities stronger and more precise,” said Teodoro.
Asked if Philippine military is planning to acquire more radars from Japan, Teodoro said, “That is still to be negotiated. We definitely need to acquire more radars. But the specific type and the specific capabilities will have to be determined.”
