Philippines to hold joint naval exercises with US
By Barbara Mae Dacanay, Bureau Chief, June 15, 2011, Gulf News
Manila:
The Philippines and the United States are to hold joint naval exercises in the West Philippine Sea (the designated name of the South China Sea) for 10 days from the end of the month.
The countries will also discuss beefing up Philippine naval power to stave off China's sudden assertion of supremacy in the contested sea lane and oil-rich Spratly Archipelago, sources have said.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines and the US will hold joint war games off Palawan in southwest Philippines, in the West Philippine Sea, from June 28 to July 8, said Philippine Navy spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Omar Tonsay.
War games
The war games, identified as Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (Carat) 2011, have been ongoing for more than 10 years, after the Philippine Senate's ratification of the US-Philippines Visiting Forces Agreement in 1998, said Tonsay.
In August, top officials from the Philippines and the US will also attend an annual board meeting of the US-Philippine Mutual Defence Treaty, an agreement forged by the two allies in 1951.
Protection
Meanwhile, the government has allocated 11.9 billion pesos (Dh991 million) for the acquisition of modern Hamilton-class cutter patrol craft from the US Coast Guard; and the development of the Philippine Coast Guard to protect the eight-Kalayaan island chain claimed by the Philippines on the Spratly Archipelago, said Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Gen Eduardo Oban Jr.
"We will have radars and communication equipment for detection and monitoring of the Coast Guard in the West Philippine Sea," he said, adding the equipment will arrive in August.
gulfnews : Philippines to hold joint naval exercises with US