PH military cites AFP’s increased activity in West Philippine Sea

FIEL PHOTO: The Philippine Navy’s BRP Antonio Luna leads three other participating ships during the first Multilateral Maritime Cooperative Activity between the Philippines, the United States, Australia, and Japan, in the West Philippine Sea. ARMED FORCES OF THE PHILIPPINES PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — There is a “dramatic increase” in the number of security-related activities conducted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) for this month, according to a Navy official.

Navy spokesperson for WPS Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad disclosed that from October 1 to 18, the AFP conducted 64 successful patrol missions “to reinforce security and sovereignty in the region.”

READ: Chinese vessels in West Philippine Sea drops to 178, PH navy reports

“I would say the majority if not all of the strategic assets of the Philippine Navy and the Philippine Air Force are now geared towards protecting, securing, and monitoring all the way up to our Exclusive Economic Zone. That includes the West Philippine Sea,” Trinidad said during a press briefing on Tuesday.

“So yes, there has been a dramatic increase in our activities in the West Philippine Sea after the pronouncement of the Secretary of Defense [Gilberto Teodoro Jr.],” he added, pertaining to the Military’s implementation of a new archipelagic defense strategy earlier this year or the “Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept.”

Asked for the Navy’s basis for “the dramatic increase” or data of its WPS-related activities in the past months, Trinidad said they have yet to provide data on the matter.

Of the 64, the Navy and Air Force conducted two sealift missions, 14 maritime patrols/sovereignty patrols, one maritime surveillance patrol, one medical evacuation, and two rotation and resupply missions.

On the other hand, aircraft from the two AFP branches executed four maritime air surveillance/intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations, along with 40 maritime patrols.

“These patrols strengthen our monitoring of activities in the West Philippine Sea while ensuring seamless support for operations like maritime domain awareness, medical evacuation, and resupply missions,” AFP Spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said in the same briefing.

The AFP, however, did not provide data on how many Chinese vessels were monitored in the WPS during the past week.

Last October 15, it was reported that 34 Chinese vessels were logged in three locations within the WPS from October 7 to 13.