AFP battle staff readies plans amid Middle East tensions

AFP chief Romeo Brawner Jr. —Photo from AFP FB page

MANILA, Philippines — As tensions remained high in the Middle East, Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. convened his battle staff on Tuesday to start discussing contingency plans should there be an “overflow of violence” from that part of the globe.

“Even if it’s very far away, it will have effects on the Philippines,” he told the Inquirer on Monday night on the sidelines of the Japan Self-Defense Forces reception aboard the helicopter destroyer JS Ise (DDH-182).

“If there is an overflow of the violence, or whatever conflict is happening in the Middle East to Asia, we might be affected. We have to have contingency plans,” Brawner said.

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Counting on US ‘focus’

“We’re hoping China won’t take advantage of the situation,” he said, without elaborating.

Among the measures being prepared include conserving fuel in AFP operations in view of this week’s price hikes attributed to the Israel-Iran conflict.

“We can’t be wasteful of our resources. Our patrols have to be purposive … We have to put in measures to save on petroleum,” Brawner said.

As to the involvement of the United States in the conflict, Brawner said he believed Washington would not lose its focus on the Indo-Pacific region, its declared priority theater, despite the developments in the Middle East, “because they have enough forces in the region.”

US Navy aircraft carrier USS Nimitz was operating in the South China Sea when it was recently diverted to the Middle East because of the Israel-Iran conflict. The American carrier was supposed to make a port call in Vietnam and host a reception on June 20. /cb