Joint patrols between the United States and the Philippines in the West Philippine Sea might start in the third quarter of this year, Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel “Babe” Romualdez said on Monday.
“We’re already at a… I would call continuing discussions on this joint patrol with the United States. I could guess, an estimate would be no later than the third quarter of this year. We should have that in place,” Romualdez said in an interview on CNN Philippines.
Meanwhile, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri was at the Naval Shipyard in Cavite City as the guest of honor of the Philippine Navy for the christening of two new patrol gunboats and the blessing of the newly upgraded Naval Shipbuilding Center.
The Navy said the arrival and christening of the two brand-new missile capable Shaldag Mark V (Acero-class patrol gunboats in the PN service) will greatly boost the service’s capability to protect the country’s littoral (near-shore) zones.
Also, Ambassador Romualdez said Manila and Washington have ceased discussions on identifying new Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) sites in the country, as the two sides are now talking on how the nine existing sites will be developed and used.
Department of National Defense officer in charge Carlito Galvez also maintained that the EDCA sites will help the Philippines respond to disasters.
The US is now seeing the Philippines “in a different light” as the Pentagon gave President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. a military honor parade during his recent visit, according to Romualdez.
Mr. Marcos was the first foreign president to be given full military honors by Washington under President Joe Biden’s administration, the ambassador said.
The Philippines and the United States decided to expand cooperation on maritime security through but not limited to joint patrols.
In a fact sheet released by the White House, the US said that under deepening interoperability, the goal is to expand cooperation on maritime security and maritime domain awareness, including through the continued conduct of combined maritime activities, including but not limited to joint patrol.
In March, the Philippine government said it is in the process of crafting guidelines on maritime activities, including joint patrols with allies.
Romualdez also stressed that the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty is now clearer following the meeting between Marcos and US President Joe Biden.
“I think that this time, the Mutual Defense Treaty is not only clear but it also sets what are the parameters on how we will proceed in terms of invoking it,” the Filipino envoy said.
Both countries had emphasized the need to reaffirm commitment to the Mutual Defense Treaty to address both current and emerging threats.
Mr. Marcos said the decades-old treaty should evolve amid the developing security situation in the region.
Describing Mr. Marcos’ trip to the US as “near perfect” despite a couple of meetings that did not happen because of a tight schedule, Romualdez said: “I would like to say it’s near perfect because everything we’ve planned for that trip came into fruition, so to speak.”
On the EDCA sites, Romualdez stressed the US has started focusing on preparing for eventualities, which were the reasons why the Philippines and the US in the first place are working towards strengthening their military alliance.
“A lot of these sites have been chosen because of disaster preparedness, which is very important…that’s one point,” the Filipino envoy said, in an interview with ANC.
“They [The US] are putting a lot of their assets in those identified sites for us to be prepared, or when we can use these sites for deployment of all of these things for any disaster that might happen,” Romualdez added.
Contrary to China’s claims, Romualdez emphasized that the Philippines and the US “are not putting these sites directed against any country.” “These are for us for our defense strategy,” he said.
In April, President Marcos allowed access by US troops to four additional Philippine sites.
The four new sites are the Naval Base Camilo Osias in Santa Ana, Cagayan; Camp Melchor Dela Cruz in Gamu, Isabela; Balabac Island in Palawan; and Lal-lo Airport in Cagayan.
They will join the five existing EDCA that are accessible for joint operations between Philippine and American troops — Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija; Basa Air Base in Pampanga; Antonio Bautista Air Base in Palawan; Mactan-Benito Ebuen Air Base in Cebu; and Lumbia Air Base in Cagayan De Oro.
The US said the new locations will strengthen the interoperability of the US and Philippine Armed Forces and allow them “to respond more seamlessly together to address a range of shared challenges in the Indo-Pacific region, including natural and humanitarian disasters.”
In a press conference following an interagency meeting to discuss preparations for the country’s hosting of the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (APMCDRR), Galvez said the EDCA sites were able to respond to recent maritime disasters, including the sinking of vessels as well as the search for the missing tourists off Tubbataha.
Galvez said the Philippines will maximize the use of EDCA “in order to protect our tourism industry and at the same time respond to disasters,” pointing out that the Philippines is most vulnerable to climate change.
“As I have said earlier, the preparations of the EDCA is also for disaster risk reduction and also for climate change. if you look at the strategic areas that we have, these are the isolated areas especially those.. in the north… and also those… in Palawan,” Galvez said.
“As you can see most of disasters are related to also those EDCA sites because most of the disasters we have right now, I think, are 3 instances of sinking vessel. And most of the EDCA sites were able to respond especially those tourists in Tubbataha Reef.”
“So our inclination is that we will maximize the use of EDCA in order to protect our tourism industry and at the same time respond to disasters… as we have the presentation from the Usec in DENR, the Philippines is number 1 much vulnerable to climate change and with that we are prepared for establishing those EDCA sites for that purpose,” he added.
