00:00Countries Navy and Coast Guard can go it alone in the nation's waters
00:03even with all the intimidation and harassment from the Chinese Coast Guard and PLA militia and the armed forces of the Philippines and
00:11Government would not be denied in spreading the Christmas cheer to the troops who guard and watch over the country's interests in the West
00:19Philippine Sea our Patrick de Jesus has more on this Christmas gift-giving in the WPS
00:24From December 3 to 14 the armed forces of the Philippines conducted resupply or
00:32remissions in the West Philippine Sea. Christmas packages stationed on the nine
00:37Philippine occupied features including Parola Island and B. Alpicera Madre in
00:42Ayungin Shoal. The remission was successful and without incident
00:46according to the Philippine Navy. This despite the presence of ships from
00:51China's People's Liberation Army Navy and the China Coast Guard particularly
00:55in Ayungin Shoal. The highlight of our remission was the delivery of the Noche Buena packages
01:03to our troops. Their morale is high and I would like to tell our countrymen
01:09your soldiers, we perform our mandate without any fanfare. Overseas, land or air
01:17Meanwhile the AFP welcomed the Senate's ratification of the reciprocal access
01:22agreement between the Philippines and Japan. 19 senators voted in favor of the
01:27resolution. It is expected that defense and military cooperation between the two
01:32countries will deepen with the help of expanded joint exercises which will
01:37strengthen our maritime domain awareness, intelligence sharing and humanitarian
01:42assistance and disaster response. This can be likened to the visiting forces
01:47agreement of the Philippines with the United States and Australia. It is also
01:51not new for Japan to participate in exercises with the Philippines. In a
01:56maritime cooperative activity in the West Philippine Sea earlier this month
02:00their Murasame-class destroyer ship JS Samidare also joined the sail. This
02:06partnership will help the AFP address security challenges especially in
02:10critical areas such as the West Philippine Sea and further solidify our
02:15preparedness and resilience in safeguarding national sovereignty. The
02:21Department of National Defense expressed gratitude to lawmakers and President
02:25Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. for ensuring the strengthening of this landmark
02:29agreement. It is expected the RAA will also be approved by Japan's national
02:35diet in accordance with their legal process to make it officially binding on
02:39both countries. Patrick de Azuz from the National TV for a new and better
02:44Philippines
Comments