Rajah Humabon to stay within Philippine borders

By AFP

Manila Times, Monday, June 20,2011

The chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines on Sunday assured that the country’s naval flagship would not go beyond the country’s 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone, or EEZ, as it prepares to deploy near disputed islands and surrounding waters in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

Despite apparent muscle-flexing by claimant-countries to the contested areas, Gen. Eduardo Oban Jr. said that he remained optimistic that the territorial dispute would be solved peacefully and avoid a potential armed confrontation.

“We hope it will not reach that point,” Oban told reporters when asked if sending the Philippine Navy flagship Rajah Humabon to the West Philippine Sea could stoke clashes.

He said that the flagship would be confined to its maritime boundaries and would not stray into international waters.

“I am optimistic that whatever conflicts may arise there will be settled peacefully and diplomatically, although what I am saying is that we will have to [also] enforce maritime laws within our 200-nautical mile [exclusive economic] zone,” Oban added.

Manila said that it would deploy the Rajah Humabon to the West Philippine Sea on Friday, a day after China announced that one of its maritime patrol vessels was also scheduled to pass through the area.

Both countries, as well as Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam have competing claims to potentially resource-rich areas in the disputed territories and surrounding waters, particularly Spratly Islands.

China claims the entire South China Sea as its historical fishing grounds, but the Philippines argues that the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea states that a country has exclusive economic rights over waters that fall within 200 nautical miles of its continental shelf.

The Philippines’ zone overlaps in some places with those of claims by the other claimants to the Spratlys.

Commissioned in the Philippine Navy in 1980, the Rajah Humabon was a former US Navy frigate that served during World War II and is one of the world’s oldest warships.

Tensions in the long-running dispute over the area flared in recent months on allegations by the Philippines and Vietnam that China has become increasingly aggressive in staking its territorial claims.

The Philippines accused China this month of sending naval vessels to intimidate rival claimants around the Spratly Islands, as well as of installing buoys and posts in nearby areas.

Foreign Minister Albert del Rosario met with his counterparts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) also on Sunday and called on them to have a common stand against China over the overlapping claims.

Asean groups the Philippines, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar., Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Hanoi’s cause was pushed further forward also on Sunday by up to 100 Vietnamese who rallied outside the Chinese Embassy in the Vietnamese capital for the third weekend in a row over the escalating maritime row with Beijing in the West Philippine Sea.

The group sang patriotic songs, chanted and carried signs such as “China stop violating the territorial waters of Vietnam,” referring to the dispute over the sovereignty of two archipelagos—Paracel and Spratlys—in the South China Sea.

“The East Sea is not the village pond of China. I come here to show my patriotism,” said one protester, who asked not to be named, using the Vietnamese name for the sea.

Demonstrations are not common in authoritarian Vietnam, where small land-rights rallies are tolerated but advocates of other political causes risk arrest, yet anti-China sentiment recently brought people to the streets.

Police at Sunday’s rally, who outnumbered the crowd, noted their patriotism but told them through loudhailers, “Your gathering here may complicate the situation, influencing diplomatic relations between the two countries.”

The United States and Vietnam also on Friday jointly called for freedom of navigation and rejected the use of force in the sea.

After talks in Washington, the former war foes said that “the maintenance of peace, stability, safety and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea is in the common interests of the international community.”

manilatimes.net

US, Asean states stage naval drill

By Gilbert P. Felongco, Monday, June 20, 2011

Manila: The US Navy is conducting a naval exercise with its forces from the five member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) amid rising tensions in the troubled South China Sea.

Dubbed the Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training (Seacat) 2011, the drills were launched last Tuesday in the Malacca Strait, Sulu Sea and Celebes Sea and will run until Friday.

Lieutenant Colonel Omar Tonsay of the Philippine Navy public affairs office said the naval forces of the five Southeat Asian allies and the US Navy will participate in a scenario-driven fleet training exercise against terrorism, transnational crimes and other maritime threats.

The drills will focus on real-time information exchange, coordinated surveillance operations, tracking, and eventual conduct of visit, board, search and seizure operation, he said.

Information exchange

The Malacca Strait, Sulu Sea and Celebes Sea are known to be areas of piracy and there have been increasing incidents in recent months.

Likewise security experts point to the same spots as likely targets of terrorist strikes due to the importance of these areas. The Strait of Malacca is a vital artery for world sea trade.

Philippine Navy Captain Sebastian Pan said that the activities in the exercise will involve "surface, air, and special operations units in the conduct of surveillance, tracking, and boarding of ... from the different participating navies within their respective maritime territories.

"Three ships from the naval forces of the Philippine Navy will participate in this year's exercise.

"As practised in the yearly Seacat, several ships from each participating Southeast Asian navy will join the training" with a US Navy ship designated as the Contact of Interest for the participating Southeast Asian navies."

Territorial claims

According to Tonsay, the naval exercise has nothing to do with the ongoing tension between China and several Southeast Asian countries over maritime territorial claims.

Manila was recently involved in a heated exchange of words with Beijing over Philippine moves to allow foreign companies to conduct oil and natural gas exploration in the Recto Bank, which is located some 85 nautical miles from the Philippines' Palawan.

Likewise, Vietnam is involved in a similar row with China over oil and natural gas exploratory operations.

China had declared that it has exclusive rights over mineral and marine resources in the South China Sea.

Gulf news

Navy ng amerika,magsu-surveilance sa 'Pinas

By Marvin Ramirez

Toro, Monday, June 20, 2011

UUMPISAHAN ngayon combined navy units mula sa mga bansa sa Southeast Asia ang apat na araw na field trainng Exercise (FTX), bilang bahagi parin ng pagpapaigting ng maritime cooperation sa rehiyon.

Sa pahayag ni Southeast Asia Cooperation and training (SEACAT 2011) Director for the Philippine Navy (PN), Capt. Franco Sebastian Pan, gagawin ang nabanggit na aktibidad sa buong Southeast Asia maritime domain, partikular sa mga istrategic points ng mga sea lanes.

Inaasahan umano sa nasabing ensayo ang pagpasok ng USS Safeguard ng Unites states Navy sa area of responsibility ng Pilipinas, para magsagawa ng icoordinated surveillance operations, tracking at board and seizure.

This includes the movement of the USS Safeguard as the Contact of Interest (COI) to Philippine area of responsibility for coordinated,surveillance operations,tracking, and eventual conduct of visit board search and seizure aboard the COI.

Sa panig ng Philippine Navy, kabilang sa mga lalahukang aktibidad ay ang maritime surveillance tracking,interdiction and boarding and searching operations.

US, 6 Southeast Asian nations start exercise on vital sea lanes

By Donna Pazzibugan

Philippine Daily Inquirer, Monday, June 20, 2011

Multilateral naval exercises among the Philippines, United States and five other Southeast Asian nations in the region’s vital sea lanes will proceed to the exercise proper on Monday, officials said.

This year’s Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training (Seacat) field training exercise would be held in “strategic points” along vital sea lanes stretching along the Sulu Sea, Celebes Sea and the Malacca Strait.

It is participated in by the Philippines, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and the United States.

The US-initiated Seacat is an annual exercise among the Navy units in the region meant to enhance interoperability and share tactical and doctrinal best practices in the fight against terrorists, poachers and transnational lawless elements in the region’s sea lanes.

The 10-day Seacat exercise started on June 14 with the command post exercise in preparation for the exercise proper.

The field training exercise (FTX) will be held on June 20-23, the Philippine Navy said.

Three Philippine Navy ships and their counterparts will track down, do surveillance and interdict a ship designated as the “contact of interest” which for this year is the USS Safeguard, a rescue and salvage ship.

The Philippine Navy exercise director, Capt. Franco Sebastian Pan, said the exercise would involve surface, air and special operations units from the different participating Navies within their territories.

Pan said a maritime interdiction operations scenario that included three boarding simulations would take place in the Philippine exercise area in the Sulu and Celebes Seas.

This year’s Seacat exercise is centered on Changi, Singapore, where the exercise command and control facility is located.

A battle staff from each participating Navy is organized in their respective navy headquarters to monitor all the activities of the exercise.

The multilateral Seacat exercise is held back-to-back with a bilateral naval exercise between the Philippines and the United States in the Sulu Sea.

This year’s Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (Carat) exercise with the United States is set from June 28 to July 8 in the Sulu Sea east of Palawan and comes amid tension between the Philippines and China over the contested Spratly chain of islands in the West Philippine Sea.

A Navy spokesperson, however, said the details of the two annual exercises were arranged beforehand.

newsinfo.inquirer.net