Archive for May 29th, 2007
Australia to give Philippine Army $4-M worth of airboats
MANILA, Philippines — Australia will donate 28 brand new airboats worth $4 million to the Philippine Army for use in internal security operations, as part of the new defense cooperation agreement between the two countries, which will be signed this week, officials said.
The high-speed, global positioning system-equipped watercraft, which can seat seven people, are “highly maneuverable” in shallow waters, said defense undersecretary Antonio Santos, adding that the first batch of deliveries are due September.
“[The airboats] can penetrate shallow bodies of water. It can be best used in small unit operations,” Santos told reporters in Camp Aguinaldo, though he declined to say where the watercraft would be used.
“These are all brand new and this will definitely boost the capability of the army,” said Ma. Joji Aragon, defense assistant secretary for strategic assessment.
The Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (SOFVA) will be signed during President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s two-day visit to Australia starting Wednesday, said defense undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor.
The delivery of the airboats will push through whether or not the Senate ratifies the SOFVA, as required under the Constitution, Aragon said.
Australia has also pledged to continue its training assistance for Filipino troops, worth AUS$4 million annually, Aragon said.
The post-graduate studies for the Filipino military officers are held in Canberra, Darwin, and Perth, she added.
At a joint news conference with the Philippine defense officials, Australian Ministry of Defense assistant secretary Ben Coleman said the SOVFA would pave the way for joint exercises between Filipino and Australian forces but refused to elaborate on their scale and location.
“The defense relationship we have with the Philippines is very much focused on the training, education and exchanges and the concluding of SOVFA, when that occurs, would admit us then to have exercises,” Coleman said.
Coleman and the Philippine officials also refused to say whether the upcoming exercises would be held in the southern Philippines, like the Balikatan (shoulder-to-shoulder) war games with American troops.
Asked if the SOVFA has improved on the Philippines’ Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the US, particularly on the issue on the jurisdiction of foreign troops charged before local courts, Santos was evasive, saying, “I don’t want to compare agreements.”
In December 2006, US Marine Daniel Smith was sentenced to life imprisonment after a Makati City court convicted him of raping a Filipina at the former Subic Naval Base a year earlier.
Calls have been made to review the VFA after Smith was detained at the US Embassy in Manila, instead of a city jail, as called for under the agreement.
Aside from Australia, the Philippines is also negotiating similar defense cooperation agreements with Singapore, Brunei, and Malaysia.
($1= P45.90)
Originally posted at 1:46pm
View article as posted on INQUIRER.net
8 soldiers wounded in NPA ambush in Aurora
MANILA, Philippines — Eight Army soldiers were wounded in an ambush by suspected communist guerillas in the northern province of Aurora on Monday evening, a regional military commander said Tuesday.
At around 6:30 p.m. Monday, some 40 soldiers on board an M35 truck were on security patrol in Dimateset village, Dilasag town, when an undetermined number of New People’s Army (NPA) fighters fired at them, said Colonel Jose Kakilala, chief of the 48th Infantry Battalion.
The attack triggered a 30-minute firefight, Kakilala said in a phone interview on Tuesday, adding that the rebels suffered an undetermined number of casualties.
Five of the eight casualties on the Army side suffered minor injuries. Three others were seriously hurt and were brought to the hospital for treatment, Kakilala said.
The rebels, who have been fighting for almost four decades and walked out of peace talks with the government in 2004, launched a string of attacks in the region over the weekend.
They blew up a cell phone transmission tower in Masbate island province Saturday, and killed three soldiers and wounded three others on Sunday. Another soldier was killed and three wounded in nearby Camarines Norte province on Friday, authorities said.
The guerrillas claim to have a presence in 71 out of the Philippines’ 81 provinces. A sharp rise in attacks has prompted President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to order security forces to cut the 7,000-strong guerrillas force in half by 2010.
The rebels walked away from Norwegian-brokered peace talks in 2004 after accusing the government of instigating their inclusion on US and European lists of terrorist groups.
With a report from AP; Originally posted at 12:02pm
View article as posted on INQUIRER.net
