By Priam Nepomuceno | Philippine News Agency
The Philippines will have more maritime cooperative activities (MCAs) with other countries this year, a ranking Philippine Navy (PN) official said Tuesday.
PN Spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea (WPS), Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, told the media at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City., “Our Department of National Defense has been very strong in defense diplomacy; and there [are] more coming, more [are in the] works. The moment these are finalized, you will be informed accordingly.”
The countries participating in future MCAs won’t be named yet for security reasons. According to Trinidad, the Philippines’ MCA with allies has been on an upward trend since November 2023.
Trinidad said, “In 2023, we only had three. In 2024, we had 11 at this time of the year.”
To date, the country already has at least 10 MCAs this year. The allied countries include the United States, Australia, Canada and Japan.
Trinidad said there is a noticeable change in the actions of the China Coast Guard (CCG) and the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) whenever the country has a scheduled MCA.
He concluded, “So we have noticed that for every MCA, there is a change in their actions. There are no coercive and aggressive actions being conducted by the CCG and the PLAN against our ships from the Coast Guard, BFAR (Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources), Navy and our aircraft.” (PNA)
