500 EDCA deals in 2024 pipeline

The United States has committed to more than 500 bilateral military engagements with the Philippines next year, which would primarily feature the stepping up of war games and joint sea patrols.

An Armed Forces of the Philippines official described the engagements as encompassing exercises and high-level exchanges between the allied nations on security cooperation and strategic vision, including maritime security, information sharing, and capacity and capability development, among others.

The commitments were made during last week's annual Mutual Defense Board-Security Engagement Board meeting, said the AFP official, who requested anonymity.

Meanwhile, AFP Public Affairs chief, Lt. Col. Enrico Gil Ileto, said highlights of the activities will include an increased "tempo" in the joint exercises. At the same time, projects under the Enhanced Development Cooperation Agreement will be scaled up.

He said engagements with other key international partners will also be part of the new set-up.

During the meeting, AFP Chief of Staff, Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., and US Indo-Pacific Command Chief Admiral John Aquilino reaffirmed the "steadfast commitment of the Philippines and the United States to safeguard their respective nations and the Indo-Pacific region."

"The meeting was the culminating activity of the planning cycle that assessed previous activities and set out over 500 bilateral engagements for 2024," Ileto said.

Increasing the American role in the maritime conflict with China is expected to be matched by the latter through increased aggressiveness in staking its claim in the West Philippine Sea.

Swarming by vessels resumes

The AFP Western Command on Saturday expressed alarm over the heightened presence of Chinese maritime militia vessels and the massive coral harvesting at Rozul, or Iroquois, Reef, located within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.

In a weekly news forum in Quezon City, Wescom commander, Vice Admiral Albert Carlos, reported the "resurgence" of swarming incidents in the West Philippine Sea, with about 40 Chinese fishing vessels spotted as of 15 September at Rozul Reef, which is located south of Recto Bank.

Carlos said the latest figure is higher than the 33 vessels spotted on 24 August and the 24 tracked on 7 September.

Swarming was also observed at Escoda (Sabina) Shoal, where five Chinese fishing vessels were spotted, and Baragatan (Nares) Bank, with two boats, according to a Wescom news release on 14 September.

"But the good news is we also have our presence there," Carlos said, referring to vessels of the Philippine Navy and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.

"So, we are addressing the issue of this swarming," he added.

Harmful harvesting

Carlos noted that in July, the Philippine Navy deployed divers to conduct an "underwater survey" of the swarmed area and found "there were no more corals" at Rozul Reef.

The military is coordinating with scientists and experts to assess the area, he said, adding that it specifically wants to verify the divers' assessment that massive harvesting of corals happened just recently.

"We saw that there were no more corals. The corals were damaged, and there was debris," he said.

"We are not making any conclusions at this time. It's a work in progress, but we just want to report coral harvesting in the area where (the Chinese were) seen loitering and swarming."

Keeping  the peace

Carlos said government troops want to "keep the peace and avoid miscalculations" in the WPS despite the recent incidents.

He, however, guaranteed a heightened military presence in the Philippines' waters.

"The presence (of Chinese vessels) is already alarming because we have the sovereign rights in our exclusive economic zone. Now, coral harvesting is still unverified. We are not saying that they are harvesting our corals. We suspect somebody is harvesting our corals, which means they are violating our sovereign rights. We have the exclusive right to exploit resources in the West Philippine Sea," Carlos said.

"For the Western Command, that is alarming, because it might appear that we are remiss in our duty to protect our territory, as well as the riches of our exclusive economic zone. So we are doubling our efforts on that. We are going to address that issue by increasing our presence there," he said.

Joint patrols assessed

Carlos said the government is "carefully" studying offers by other countries to conduct joint patrols with Philippine forces.

For now, the military is carrying out unilateral maritime patrols in the WPS, he said, adding that these are being "jointly conducted with the Philippine Coast Guard and the BFAR, not with any foreign country."

"We are in engagement with whoever offers to help us, whoever shares our desire, our objective to establish a rules-based international order. We are studying it carefully. All the offers are on the table," he said.

More EDCA projects

Ileto said Brawner and Aquilino also agreed to hasten the completion of the EDCA projects. There were 32 projects approved. The two officials are eyeing 63 more EDCA projects.

"More importantly, it reaffirmed the two nations' commitment to the PH-US alliance as espoused in the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty," he said.

The Philippines and the US military officials also agreed to jointly push for a free and open Indo-Pacific region "against a backdrop of a rules-based international order," Ileto said.