Philippine, Indonesian police to hold joint maritime exercises

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine and Indonesian national police will hold this week joint maritime exercises to coordinate their efforts in fighting transnational crimes within common border patrol areas.

The joint police maritime law enforcement exercise (MARLEX) will be held from March 20 to 23 in southern Mindanao, including the territorial boundaries of the Philippines and Indonesia.

The actual simulation exercise will be conducted in Puerto Princesa City in Palawan.

The Philippine National Police said the fleet training exercise would include a seaborne demonstration of hot pursuit; vessel rendezvous; vessel interdiction, ambush, and raid; piracy, hostage-taking, search and rescue; and high-risk visit, board, search and seizure operations.

The first such exercises between the Philippines and Indonesia were held in 2008 in Manado, Indonesia.

That exercise was focused on seaborne interdiction, exchange of maritime intelligence and the investigation of cases involving maritime related crimes.

The two regional allies have since signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on March 9, 2011, in Jakarta to boost their cooperation and capability building in preventing and combating transnational crimes.

Deputy Director General Emelito Sarmiento, PNP deputy chief for operations, head of the Philippine contingent, said the exercises would include orientation on their respective operating procedures as well as familiarization with patrol boats and other equipment.

He said the exercises would address transnational threats in the Sulu-Sulawesi Sea that require cooperation and coordinated action between the two law enforcement agencies.

Crimes at sea include drug trafficking, terrorism, arms smuggling, human trafficking, illegal fishing and maritime fraud.

Experts from the Philippine Center for Transnational Crimes, the Philippine Navy and other foreign agencies were invited as critique evaluators.