Phl-US Mutual Defense Board tackles ISIS, Ebola

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines and the United States have vowed to strengthen partnership to address the threats posed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the deadly Ebola virus.

Armed Forces chief Gen. Gregorio Catapang Jr. said reports of ISIS recruitment in the country was among the issues discussed during the meeting of the Mutual Defense Board-Security Engagement Board (MDB-SEB) at Camp Aguinaldo yesterday.

The MDB and SEB serve as venues for security cooperation between the Philippines and the US. The MDB focuses on inter-governmental coordination while SEB deals with non-traditional security threats like transnational crimes, maritime security and disasters.

“We emphasized that the challenges of the 21st century will be global,” Catapang said.

He said he wants to include Ebola pandemic preparedness in the activities to be conducted under the MDB-SEB.

“Pandemics like Ebola virus is a global challenge. We will talk about it,” the military chief said.

“They (US Pacific Command) have experienced addressing these kinds of pandemics and we would like to include that in one of the MDB-SEB activities,” he added.

The World Health Organization considered Ebola as the world’s most severe health emergency. The current outbreak of Ebola virus in West African countries has so far killed more than 4,000 people.

Malacañang has given assurance that the government is working to prevent the entry of the Ebola virus in the Philippines.

Catapang said the Philippines should be prepared for other global challenges such as terrorism, radicalism, climate change, maritime concern, transnational crime and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

He said the Philippines and the US would intensify intelligence information to combat terrorism.

“There will be CMO (civil-military operations) activities. There will be hard and soft approaches to prevent the ISIS from infiltrating the country,” the military chief said.

Catapang said their action plan includes an awareness campaign about the doctrines of Islam.