Interest is building up this week as the Philippine Coast Guard will conduct its week-long first trilateral maritime exercise with its counterparts from the United States and Japan starting tomorrow.
The coast guards will be holding communication and photo exercises, maneuvering drills, maritime law enforcement training, search and rescue operations, and passing exercises in waters off Mariveles in Bataan.
An arrival ceremony welcoming the US and Japanese contingents is set on tomorrow at the Pier 15 of Manila’s South Harbor.
The June 1 to 7 exercise was as initiative of the United States and Japan, while Australia would join as an observer, said Philippine coast guard spokesman Armand Balilo.
US Ambassador to the Philippines MaryKay Carlson, Japanese Deputy Chief of Mission and Minister Kenichi Matsuda, Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo, Transport Secretary Jaime Bautista, and Japan International Cooperation Agency Chief Philippine Representative Takema Sakamoto have been invited to attend the ceremony, PCG added.
The exercises will be held amid continuing tensions between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea, some parts of which Manila calls the West Philippine Sea.
Coast Guard Vice Admiral Rolando Lizor Punzalan Jr. said the US Coast Guard and Japan Coast Guard have been assisting the Philippines “in our human resource development program, particularly in law enforcement training.”
While some observers may put off-track meaning to the exercise, it is analeptic, as Balilo told media on Monday, since the exercises do not target any adversary, but are really more for the participating countries’ interoperability.
He added this will allow PCG personnel to also showcase what they have learned from the mobile training units sent by the US and Japan.
“There is nothing wrong with holding exercises with your counterparts,” Balilo said.
Japan, Australia and the United States have frequently condemned China’s militarization in the South China Sea and have sought to engage closer with US ally the Philippines since Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took over as president last year.
One of their exercises will simulate a situation with a vessel suspected to be involved in piracy or have weapons of mass destruction onboard, where participants will conduct a boarding inspection and a SAR operation.
In the global context, SAR is an operation to render assistance to persons in distress at sea regardless of the nationality or status of such a person or the circumstances in which that person is found in accordance with the applicable Maritime Law and Conventions
For the maritime exercises, the PCG will deploy BRP Melchora Aquino, BRP Gabriela Silang, BRP Boracay, as well as one of its 44-meter multi-role response vessels, with 200 PCG personnel participating.
The US Coast Guard will send the 127-meter cutter USCGC Stratton — among the largest patrol craft in the US Coast Guard – while Japan’s Coast Guard will send the 150-meter patrol vessel JCG Akitsushima.
President Marcos earlier said he and US President Joe Biden agreed to work with countries that have a similar “commitment to international law and mutual respect.”
These “trilateral modes of cooperation” will be explored with countries such as Japan and Australia.
