The Armed Forces of the Philippines is committed to strengthening the country's cyber warfare and territorial defense efforts as it officially kicked off the 7th iteration of the AFP Joint Exercise Dagat Langit Lupa or AJEX DAGIT-PA on Monday.

AFP chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said the exercise will test the military's ability to plan, conduct, and assess joint operations across all domains. 

"We will demonstrate to the world that we are a force to be reckoned with, a force that operates as a united front, unyielding in our pursuit of excellence," he said in his remarks during the ceremonial opening of this year's AJEX DAGIT-PA at the Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City. 

It is also crucial to identifying and addressing gaps within the military organization, he added.

Brawner urged the soldiers to take such training "very seriously."

"I always tell our armed forces of the Philippines, the members of the AFP and the other uniformed services, that at this point we have to take this very seriously because we can face a formidable competitor or adversary anytime in the future, it could be in the near future, it could be in the far future but it is important that we prepare today," he said. 
 
In a media interview, Brawner stressed the need for the AFP to prepare for any adversary that the country may confront in the future. 

"It can be anybody else, when we talk about adversaries, you are referring to a specific country and as I mentioned, not only man-made, even natural calamities and disasters, we have to prepare for all of this," he said. 

Brawner added: "We're talking  about war, for example, an internal aggression into our country that requires our nation to react collectively."

This year's AJEX DAGIT-PA will be participated by more than 1,500 active soldiers and reserve forces from the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, Special Operations Command, and Cyber Group unit of the AFP. 

MGen. Marvin Licudine, AJEX DAGIT-PA director, said the drills would be a pre-requisite to next year's iteration of the joint Philippines-United States Balikatan exercise. 

"This year's exercise is just raising the level, our level of competence, our level of efficiency, and of course the capacities that we need to develop, and that includes the skills of our individual soldiers and the AJEX is also connected to the upcoming Balikatan exercises, this is all preparations and preparedness," Licudine noted. 

He added joint exercise will highlight strengthening the efficiency of command and control functions through collaboration and coordination of the AFP battle staff with unified commands during an external defense operations scenario. 

The exercises will focus on territorial defense, maritime security, and counter-terrorism that will enhance the AFP forces' tactics, techniques, and procedures across a wide range of military operations.

The AJEX DAGIT-PA is seen to help the AFP evaluate its existing readiness to conduct joint operations on the Unilateral Defense Posture approach to Territorial Defense.

It also aims to enhance the AFP joint forces' capabilities in responding to threats of terrorism and supporting the Philippine Coast Guard and Philippine National Police in enforcing maritime laws to protect our people especially
fishermen.