Noy off to NZ, Australia today

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines is seeking to boost its defense capabilities by developing a strategic partnership with Australia, like what it currently enjoys with the United States and Japan, President Aquino has said.

The President and his delegation are leaving tonight for New Zealand and Australia.

The Philippines and Australia have a Status of Visiting Forces Agreement, which would allow Australian forces to enter the Philippines, among other forms of defense cooperation.

“We are offering Australia actually a strategic partnership. We only have two strategic partnerships – one with the United States of America and the other with Japan. We are offering the third to Australia and they are presently studying it,” Aquino said.

“But even in the absence of that, they are already helping us with the Coast Watch System. There (are) various trainings being conducted by their military security forces with our own personnel in the form of scholarships or they are meeting with various institutions,” the President said during the Annual Presidential Forum of the Foreign Correspondents Association in Manila earlier in the week.

He said the Philippines and Australia “share the same values” and “we are both democracies.”

“We have been normally on the same side of issues that have confronted our respective peoples since at least World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War. We face the same challenges be it terrorism, global climate change, relationships with the superpower in the neighborhood,” Aquino said.

The President is also expected to brief leaders of New Zealand and Australia on the framework agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front signed on Monday.

Cabinet members who will accompany the President include Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, Agriculture Secretary Proseso Alcala, Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office Secretary Ricky Carandang, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and National Economic and Development Authority director general Arsenio Balisacan.

The President will be meeting with New Zealand and Australian leaders, Filipino communities and business groups to seek investments in the Philippines.

He will also unveil a statue of the country’s national hero Jose Rizal in Sydney.

There are 36,000 Filipinos in New Zealand and 224,000 in Australia.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Coast Guard will meanwhile participate in a five-day training exercise with the Philippine Navy and the Royal Australian Navy to share and improve knowledge, skills and tactics in maritime operations. - Aurea Calica, Evelyn Macairan