US, Phl in joint naval exercise near Panatag

MANILA, Philippines - A United States Navy (USN) guidde-missile destroyer and a Philippine Navy (PN) frigate will be conducting a joint naval maneuver close to Panatag Shoal, a Philippine territory now under the de facto control of China, as the yearly joint PHL-US naval  drill dubbed Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) opens Thursday.

Aside from guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald, the US navy is also deploying two of its rescue and salvage warships, UNS Safeguard and USN Salvor along with a contingent US Marines and other specialized sailors.

Partnering with the US warships in this year’s scheduled joint naval maneuver near Panatag Shoal is the PN’s frigate BRP Gregorio del Pilar (PF-15) and BRP EDSA 2-002, a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) search and rescue vessel.

“The Philippine Navy will be utilizing its newly-acquired vessel BRP Gregorio del Pilar (PF-15), a  Navy aircraft, special boat team, diving team from the Naval Special Operations Group (Navsog), construction team from the Naval Engineers and a company of Marines to test their readiness and capability,”  Naval Forces Northern Luozn (NFNL) commander, Commodore Nodolfo Tejada, said  in a press statement.

Around 1,000  Filipino and US sailors are participating in the naval drill, a yearly event being done under the auspices of the decades-old Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) between the Philippines and the United States governments.

Tejada also said that besides  search and rescue vessel, PCG is also deploying a helicopter, a diving team, and a contingent task to conduct the  visit, board, search and seizure exercises with their US counterparts.

Without directly confirming that this year’s  joint naval drill will  be held near Panatag shoal, Tejadas said the naval activities will cover areas in Northern Luzon, particularly in Zambales who has territorial jurisdiction over Panatag Shoal, a rich Filipino fishing ground that has been  illegally occupied by China since last year’s two-month standoff over the area after Chinese surveillance ships  blocked the arrest of their fishermen engaged in illegal fishing and poaching.

“The CARAT 2013 major objectives are to enhance the current Philippine Navy and US capabilities in naval operations through lectures and practical exercises focusing on the different fields of naval operations such as communication, naval gunnery, at-sea operations, maritime interdiction and humanitarian assistance and disaster response operations and increase the level of interoperability between the Philippine Navy and US Navy in the conduct of combined operations,” Tejada said.

Since last year’s US pivot in the Asia-Pacific region, the country other than the military benefits  it gained as a result in the increased of  US military visits, has also boosted its tourism.

"Same as other bilateral and multilateral exercises, numbers of foreigners from different nationalities especially the Americans came in the country. Data from Department of Tourism form 2012 to early 2013, visitors from the US constituted the second biggest arrivals for the period and one of the contributing factors is the conduct of exercises,” Tejada said.