CARAT to test coast watch project in Mindanao

GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines  – Hundreds of Filipino and American sailors are scheduled to conduct minesweeping and night sea insertion operations in this year’s joint Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) here.

Senior US and Filipino military officials said yesterday that the drills will test the effectiveness of the US and Australian-funded multimillion-dollar Coast Watch South project in the Mindanao Sea.

Lt. Gen. Jorge Segovia, military head of the Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom), and Philippine Navy Eastern Mindanao commander Philip Cacayan, both based in Davao City, said that mine countermeasures and night insertion operations are new naval techniques being introduced in this year’s joint naval and coast guard drills being held for the first time in the Sea of Mindanao.

Segovia said the joint naval and Coast Guard activities will also test the effectivity of the Coast Watch South, a sea- and land-based monitoring system to detect, in real time, all naval activities in the country’s southern backdoor.

The main objective of the Coast Watch South project is to get real time movements of local and foreign terrorists within the country’s porous maritime border with Indonesia and Malaysia.

US Ambassador Harry Thomas Jr., who attended the official opening of the nine-day naval event, said US sailors and Coast Guard personnel will be interacting with their Filipino counterparts to further hone their interoperability skills.

He said he is also looking forward to US sailors engaging their Filipino counterparts in karaoke singing.

Thomas, however, avoided answering questions involving the current territorial standoff between the Philippines and China in Panatag Shoal with China’s warning that it will resolutely oppose any provocative actions in its maritime territory.

He said that the decades old alliance between the Philippines and the US remains strong, and reiterated the US stand that all territorial disputes in the West Philippine Sea must be resolved peacefully.

Singapore-based Rear Admiral Thomas Carney Jr., logistic commander of Western Pacific Command’s 7th Fleet and this year’s US CARAT commander, said the naval exercises have nothing to do with any territorial disputes in the West Philippine Sea.

“We’re a long way from the South China Sea. Nothing in this exercise would be provocative. We are here because the Philippines is a treaty ally,” Carney said.

Capt. Dave Welch, commander of Destroyer Squadron 31 based in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, leads CARAT Task Group 73.1.

“The Philippine and US navies share a special relationship and history,” said Welch. “Our bilateral operations and training have matured over the past 60 years, and CARAT Philippines is a model for how an exercise series can evolve to bring new value each year.”

AFP: Nothing to do with territorial dispute

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) also clarified that the CARAT exercise is not related to the territorial row in the West Philippine Sea.

AFP spokesman Col. Arnulfo Burgos Jr. said CARAT “was planned long before the standoff in Panatag Shoal.”

Burgos said the activity is not a response to China’s decision to send patrol ships to the disputed Spratly Islands. He stressed that the bilateral exercise is not directed at any country.

The Philippines no longer has presence in the area after President Aquino ordered a pullout of two government ships last month due to bad weather.

It remains unclear whether Malacañang would order a redeployment of vessels to assert the country’s ownership of the area.

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), as expected, opposed the conduct of the joint naval exercise, saying it reflects the supposed US plan to dominate the region.

The CPP said the US is using the bilateral exercise to expand its network of bases and ports.

The Philippine Navy ships that will join the activity are BRP Magat Salamat, BRP Miguel Malvar, BRP Salvador Abcede and BRP Teotimo Figuracion.

The US Navy, on the other hand, will deploy the USS Vandergrift and USNS Safeguard, a salvage ship.

The Philippine Coast Guard and US Coast Guard will employ the BRP Pampanga and the USCG Waesche, respectively.

Other assets that will participate in the CARAT are a Philippine Navy Islander plane, a US Navy P3C Orion, SH-60B helicopter, and BO-105CB helicopter from Philippine Coast Guard.

The exercise will involve around 400 personnel from the Philippine Navy, 350 from the US Navy, 50 from the Philippine Coast Guard, and 150 from the US Coast Guard.

Meanwhile, USNS Safeguard has been diverted from General Santos City to Manila to conduct search and salvage operations in the mouth of Manila Bay for a missing Philippine Air Force (PAF) trainer plane.

“One of our ships, USS Safeguard, will conduct the actual salvage operations within Manila Bay area for the PAF missing plane,” said Carney, referring to the PAF SF260 trainer plane with two pilots onboard that plunged into the mouth of Manila Bay while on a routine proficiency training flight several weeks ago, an hour after taking off from Sangley Point Naval Base in Cavite City.

Combined efforts of Air Force and Navy search teams to locate the trainer plane, as well as its missing pilot and co-pilot, have yielded negative results.

Underwater robots used to sweep the seabed of Manila Bay failed to locate the missing plane, which fishermen saw plummeting into the sea near an island in Mariveles, Bataan.

He said there are 25 US Navy divers and 70 highly trained personnel in rescue and salvage operations on their ship. – Alexis Romero, Roel Pareño, Pia Lee-Brago