April 8, 2024 | NEWS DIGEST

 

By API Desk | Date 04-08-2024

 

Brawner assures BRP Sierra Madre will not be abandoned

Armed Forces chief of staff General Romeo Brawner Jr. assured the United States that the Philippines would not abandon the rusting naval vessel in a submerged shoal in the West Philippine Sea.

Speaking to US Air Force secretary Frank Kendall in a meeting in Camp Aguinaldo, Brawner said that the military will continue to support the troops stationed at BRP Sierra Madre despite China’s efforts to prevent them from delivering supplies. 

Both parties affirmed their security engagements and cooperative work which includes maritime cooperative activities, bilateral exercises and EDCA sites projects. The US has allocated $109 million to complete 23 construction projects in seven EDCA sites until 2025.

Brawner said that the increasing military engagement between the Philippines and US “sends a strong message to the world of the ironclad alliance between the two countries.” 

Philippines holds air and naval patrols in West Philippines Sea with Australia, Japan and United States

A Japanese destroyer, an Australian frigate, and a US Navy coastal vessel will join two Philippine Navy patrol vessels in an anti-submarine exercise in the country’s waters within the exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Director Arsenio Andolong said the one-day maritime cooperative activity (MCA) will sail from Palawan to northern Luzon next week, passing near Ayungin Shoal and Scarborough Shoal and ending in the Balintang channel. 

Aside from the anti-submarine exercise, the four countries will also conduct communications drills and naval maneuver tactics. This is the first time these four countries will be holding an MCA outside the Philippines’ territorial waters . 

The Philippines has an alliance with the US and a visiting forces deal with Australia. The country is expecting to sign a Reciprocal Access Agreement with Japan.

Philippine Army commits to dismantle remaining 11 Communist guerrilla fronts

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered the ground forces to end the Maoist-led rebellion by the end of the year, dismantling the remaining 11 guerrilla fronts nationwide. 

National Security Adviser and former Armed Forces chief of staff, retired general Eduardo Año, said the order also seeks to destroy “26 vertical units and party organs” within the Communist movement.

The Communist Party of the Philippines has 40 regional and 27 sub-regional party committees across the country, but only 11 active guerrilla fronts remain with less than 2,000 armed fighters. 

While the Army has started preparing for external defense, Assistant National Security Council Director-General Jonathan Malaya said they have also been ordered to “take the battle to their (guerrilla) hideouts in the coming months. 

Czech Republic offers to sell jet trainers to replace S-211s

The Czech Republic has offered to sell at least 12 next-generation L-39 lead-in fighter trainers to the Philippines to replace its aging Anglo-Italian Siai Marchetti S-211 aircraft, a Filipino diplomat, who requested anonymity for security reasons, said.

The offer was made during President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s recent visit to the central European state. The Philippines has been looking to replace the S-211s which were acquired in the late 1980s, and may take Czech Republic’s offer as they had also pitched soft loans for the L-39s. 

The European nation also expressed support for the country’s military modernization plan to deter China’s ‘gray zone tactics.’ 

Should the Philippines acquire the L-39s, it would be the second country in Southeast Asia to have the aircraft, following Vietnam.