Navy ‘preparing for any eventuality’ amid reported US project in Batanes

Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad, Spokesperson of the Philippine Navy for West Philippine Sea speaks to the members of the media at West Philippine Sea Office, Manila City on Wednesday, March 6, 2024. Arnel Tacson, INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Navy and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) are “always preparing for any eventuality” following reports of a United States-funded project in Batanes, the country’s northernmost island province near Taiwan.

According to a Kyodo News report on Monday, Batanes Governor Marilou Cayco said the US Army will arrive in the island province in late April to further discuss the construction of a civilian port there.

When asked about the governor’s statement at an AFP regular press briefing on Tuesday, Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad, the Navy spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, said, “The Philippine Navy and the armed forces [are] always preparing for any eventuality across the spectrum of conflict from peace, to crisis to wartime.”

READ: Philippines to deploy over 100 naval reservists to Batanes

In August 2023, Reuters also reported that Washington is in talks with Manila to develop a civilian port there.

Batanes is also being considered as one of the sites for this year’s iteration of Manila and Washington’s war games.

READ: US-PH war games in Batanes is not linked to China-Taiwan row, says AFP

“Exercises with foreign counterparts are also designed to improve our capability and part of this we have [what] we call exercise-related constructions to be able to assist foreign forces and our local forces,” Trinidad also said.

According to the Kyodo report, Cayco also said the proposed structure could be utilized to evacuate Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) in Taiwan during conflicts.

In April 2023, Defense Senior Undersecretary Carlito Galvez Jr. also said the Enhance Defense Cooperation Agreement sites — three of which face Taiwan — may also be used as “evacuation points” for OFWs there.

READ: Galvez: New Edca sites can be OFW ‘evacuation points’ if regional tensions rise

Taiwan, a self-ruled democratic island that China regards as a renegade province subject to reunification, broke away from the mainland in 1949 following its takeover by Mao Zedong’s communist forces.