Participants and facilitators of the 3-day Security Sector Assistance Roadmap Working Group Workshop pose for a photo during the closing ceremony on July 13, 2023. (Public Affairs Office of the AFP)
MANILA, Philipines — The Philippines and the United States have started laying out a roadmap of Washington’s security assistance to Manila, three months after they agreed to create a long-term plan to strengthen the country’s military capabilities amid shared concerns over China’s assertiveness in the region.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines and the US Department of Defense concluded a three-day US Security Sector Assistance Roadmap (SSAR) working group workshop last week at the military’s main headquarters at Camp Aguinaldo, the AFP said on Monday.
AFP deputy chief of staff for plans Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Hechanova, AFP assistant deputy chief of staff for logistics Brig. Gen. Leo Edward Caranto and US Secretary of Defense country director Kidd Manville led the workshop’s closing ceremony on July 13.
The workshop is an offshoot of the agreements made during the 2+2 meeting between the top diplomats and defense officials of both countries in Washington in April, where they agreed to create a roadmap for the delivery of “priority defense platforms” that could include drones, military transport aircraft, fighter jets, and coastal and air defense radars over the next five to 10 years.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III and then acting Defense Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. agreed in April to ramp up efforts to strengthen their “combined ability to resist armed attack by modernizing our armed forces” in the face of “coercion and gray-zone aggression,” in an indirect reference to China.
“SSAR involves the provision of support, training and assistance by the United States to help partner nations strengthen their security sectors, including defense forces,” the AFP said.
The recommendations made during the workshop will be “further deliberated, refined and approved” by the Mutual Defense Board – Security Engagement Board led by the AFP and US Indo-Pacific Command chiefs who will gather in Manila for an annual meeting this September.
Navy drills
Meanwhile, the navies of Philippines and Australia kicked off a five-day joint maritime exercise dubbed as Lumbas in Subic Bay in a bid to strengthen interoperability.
Australia is the only other country aside from the United States with a Visiting Forces Agreement with the Philippines.
Around 200 Filipino and Australian sailors are taking part in the exercise over the next few days. The Philippine Navy’s corvette BRP Conrado Yap and frigate Royal Australian Navy’s HMAS Anzac will be deployed for the drills.
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri on Tuesday said Congress would do its part by pouring funds into the AFP, mainly to boost the country’s presence in the West Philippine Sea, including improvement of facilities at Kalayaan group of islands which has been under threat from the swarming of Chinese vessels.