FILIPINO and American troops are due to launch next week an annual military exercise meant to hone skills in responding to security challenges.
The 12-day exercise, dubbed as “Kamandag” (Kaagapay ng mga Mandirigma Mula sa Dagat), will start on Monday at the headquarters of the Philippine Marine Corps (PMC) in Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City.
The PMC said training activities under Kamandag include a maritime strike off Burgos town in Ilocos Norte on March 29.
The other training events are live fire integration, counter-landing/defensive retrograde operation, special operating force strike, and subject matter expert exchanges on chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive.
This year’s Kamandag, mainly a Philippines and US exercise, will involve troops from Japan, South Korea and United Kingdom, said the US Marine Corps Forces, Pacific (MARFORPAC) in a statement.
Filipino troops, meanwhile, conducted a flag-raising ceremony aboard the Navy patrol ship BRP Emilio Jacinto on Sunday to commemorate the eighth anniversary of the renaming of Benham Rise to Philippine Rise or Talampas ng Pilipinas, a huge and resource-rich underwater plateau east of Luzon.
Two FA-50 fighter jets of the Philippine Air Force performed a fly-by during the ceremony, “boosting national pride and public morale,” said the Northern Luzon Naval Command (NLNC).
Benham Rise was claimed by the Philippine government in 2009 as part of the Philippine continental shelf. The claim was approved by the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in 2012.
On May 16, 2017, then-President Duterte renamed Benham Rise to Philippine Rise, which is about 24 million hectares in size, by virtue of Executive Order No. 25.
EO 25 says Philippine Rise “is subject to the sovereign rights and jurisdiction of the Philippines, pursuant to relevant provisions of the 1987 Constitution, national legislation, the UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) and applicable international law.”
FORGING TRUST
Col. Jason Armas, commanding officer of the US Marine Ready Force-Darwin 25.3, said “Kamandag 9 is a clear demonstration of the strength of the US-Philippine alliance and our ironclad commitment to regional security and combined readiness.”
Armas said training with the Philippine Marine Corps is not just about “building interoperability” but also about “forging trust in the crucible of shared hardship and preparing together to respond with speed and precision to any crisis, anywhere, anytime.”
Kamandag will open 17 days after the culmination of the 19-day “Balikatan” exercise, the largest of the many annual exercises between the US and Philippine armed forces.
MARFORPAC said Kamandag will take place “across Philippine archipelago,” including Batanes, Tawi-Tawi, and Palawan.
PMC commandant Maj. Gen. Arturo Rojas said this year’s Kamandag is a testament to the “enduring partnership” between the two sides.
“By operating jointly in complex environments, we are strengthening our capability to defend the archipelago and contributing to a secure and stable Indo-Pacific,” said Rojas.
CHINESE SHIPS
Two Chinese research vessels were sighted off Batanes and Ilocos Norte on Sunday by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) which vowed to deploy ships to escort the foreign vessels out of the country’s waters.
In an interview with radio dzBB, PCG spokesman for the West Philippine Sea Commodore Jay Tarriela said the research vessels were monitored by a PCG aircraft that conducted a maritime domain awareness flight in these areas.
Tarriela said the aircraft issued radio challenges to the Chinese vessels and documented their illegal presence.
He said the first research vessel was located some 151 nautical miles west off the coast of Itbayat, Batanes. The second vessel was some 40 to 45 nautical miles off the coast of Burgos, Ilocos Norte.
Tarriela said PCG commandant Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan has ordered the deployment of PCG vessels to “challenge directly and to escort them out” of the country’s 200 nautical miles exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
“Right now, on our part, the order of our president to the commandant, Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan, is to enhance our presence up north,” said Tarriela.
Tarriela said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr wants the PCG “to make sure that we’re going to prevent these Chinese research vessels from conducting illegal marine scientific research vessels because these (locations) fall within our own exclusive economic zone.”
“We will be deploying our assets to make sure that we’re going to challenge (them), document and even escort them out,” said Tarriela.
On May 1, the PCG monitored a similar Chinese research vessel off Burgos. The vessel was eventually challenged and escorted by PCG vessels out of the country’s EEZ.
Tarriela said the PCG documented the vessel conducting actual marine scientific research, including the deployment of a deep-sea submersible vessel.
