Balikatan military exercise to be held outside PH territorial waters for 1st time

Balikatan, the annual joint military exercise of the Philippines and the United States, will have activities outside the territorial waters of the country for the first time since its inception.

In a press conference, Balikatan’s executive agent Colonel Michael Logico said these activities will be conducted beyond 12 nautical miles or 22.22 kilometers off the west coast of Palawan.

“We will be utilizing the western side of Palawan, extending beyond our 12 nautical miles so this is also a new thing. We have done group sails before but this time we will be going beyond our 12 nautical mile limitation,” Logico said.

“In previous exercises, we’ve been limited to just 12 nautical miles, now we are encouraging or we are venturing outwards beyond that,” he pointed out.

Logico noted that the area beyond 12 nautical miles is already considered international waters.

“A group sail is a maritime exercise and the events that take place there will be a combination of division tactics; search and rescue; vehicle, boarding, search, and seizure exercises; gunnery exercises; deck landing qualifications, well deck operations,” the Army officer said.

According to Logico, participants will be moving from Point A to Point B in the West Philippine Sea.

Among the participants in the 2024 edition of Balikatan are units of the Philippine Navy, US Navy, French Navy and the Philippine Coast Guard.

“The message that we want to send is that we are serious about defending our territory and we have allies. That’s basically it and the alliance is still going strong,” he added.

This year’s Balikatan, which is set to be conducted around April and May, will involve 16,000 troops including around 11,000 US and 5,000 Philippine personnel, according to Logico.

Around 14 countries will also participate as observers.—RF, GMA Integrated News