PH Navy on WPS drills: Expect increase in navy-to-navy sea engagements

This handout photo taken and received on April 7, 2024 shows participating ships displaying their station-keeping skills with precision as they move into different formations as part of the Division Tactics / Officer of the Watch maneuver during the first Multilateral Maritime Cooperative Activity between the Philippines, US, Australia and Japan in South China Sea. (Handout / Armed Forces of the Philippines / AFP)

MANILA, Philippines — More naval multilateral patrols are expected in the West Philippine Sea, a Philippine Navy official said on Wednesday.

Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad, Philippine Navy spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, echoed the announcement of US national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

“While we do not comment on future operations, we can expect an increase in navy-to-navy sea engagements,” Trinidad told reporters in a text message.

Trinidad noted the increase in naval cooperation is an operational approach of the Active Archipelagic Defense Strategy, which is the naval component of the Department of National Defense’s (DND) Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept.

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said that future multilateral maritime cooperative activity (MCCA) with other allied countries is possible.

“Conducting MCCA’s with allied countries in the coming days is feasible, provided that all parties approve them at the ministerial level and in alignment with the International rules-based order and International laws,” Padilla said in another text message to reporters.

Padilla deferred the further details to the DND.

READ: DND: 2 Chinese ships tailed Sunday’s multilateral patrol in West PH Sea

Joint patrols

Sullivan on Tuesday said more joint patrols can be expected in the South China Sea after drills were conducted by the United States, Australia, the Philippines, and Japan over the weekend.

The multilateral drills involved the Philippine Navy’s frigate BRP Antonio Luna (FF-151) with antisubmarine warfare AW159 helicopter and patrol ship BRP Valentin Diaz (PS-177), the US Navy’s littoral combat ship USS Mobile (LCS-26), the Royal Australian Navy’s frigate HMAS Warramunga (FFH-152), and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s destroyer JS Akebono (DD-108).

Also, the United States and Australia each deployed a P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft.

The MCCA, Trinidad said, “allowed us to test the operational readiness of our surface Fleet to operate with our allies and partners from planning to preparation and execution.”

However, Chinese People’s Liberation Army-Navy warships with bow numbers 792 and 162 were monitored six nautical miles away from the exercise area off the coast of Busanga, Palawan.

Furthermore, China said it would conduct military “combat patrols” in the South China Sea on Sunday, the same day as joint drills by four countries, according to Agence France-Presse.

But AFP chief General Romeo Brawner Jr. disputed this, noting that the exercise went uninterrupted.

READ: Brawner disputes China’s claim of ‘combat patrol’ in West Philippine Sea

Beijing asserts sovereignty in the entire South China Sea, including most of the West Philippine Sea, even if such a claim has been effectively invalidated by a July 2016 international tribunal ruling that stemmed from a case filed by Manila in 2013.