00:00The Philippines and its partners ramp up cooperation at sea and on land, showcasing unity and readiness.
00:06From warship sails to live-fire drills, thousands of troops converge to sharpen defense and strengthen regional security, as our Patrick De Jesus tells us more.
00:16Warships from the Philippines and Australia sail together near Lubang Island, Occidental Mindoro, as part of the ALON Exercises 2025 between the two countries.
00:27Taking part in the exercise are the BRP Oce Rizal of the Philippine Navy and His Majesty's Australian ship Brisbane III of the Royal Australian Navy.
00:39The joint sail will last until August 29, passing through the West Philippine Sea on the way to Palawan, with the participation also of His Majesty's Canadian ship Vilde Quebec of the Royal Canadian Navy.
00:52In addition, other drills will also be conducted under ALON, including combined and joint forcible entry operations, and a combined arms live-fire exercise with close-air support.
01:05A total of 3,600 troops from the Philippines and Australia are participating, alongside the U.S. Marine Corps and the Royal Canadian Navy, with observers from New Zealand and Indonesia.
01:18The Bayinal Alon exercises will be held until August 29 in Northern Luzon and Palawan.
01:25We don't direct this activity with other nations, but our activity is based on the premise that the exercise is anchored on the free and open Indo-Pacific with peace and prosperity in the region.
01:49It's a fantastic opportunity for us to work together, to reinforce how we communicate with each other, and how we actually bring together our forces from the Army, Navy, and the Air Force.
02:01It has also been observed that Chinese vessels are less aggressive whenever the Philippines conducts maritime cooperative activities with other countries in the West Philippine Sea.
02:1321 joint sails and multilateral maritime cooperative activity have already been conducted since 2023, with more to come according to the AFP.
02:23There will be more coming up for the remaining part of the year. So we have noticed that for every, I mentioned earlier, for every MCA, there is a change in their actions.
02:34There are no coercive and aggressive actions being conducted by the Coast Guard, Chinese Coast Guard, and the PLA Navy against our ships from the Coast Guard, BIFAR, Navy, and our aircraft.
02:45Meanwhile, the AFP assured continued support for the operations of the Philippine Coast Guard and BIFAR in Bajo de Masinloc, even if deploying Philippine warships is not yet an option.
02:58The Navy also has contingency measures in place to respond immediately if needed, especially since China's PLA Navy warships have also become more aggressive, as seen in the incident in Bajo de Masinloc last week.
03:13The guidance has been very clear. One single incident will not change our posture in our overall maritime environment.
03:21The National Maritime Council earlier stressed that this is not a show of weakness, but rather the Philippines' way of preventing tensions from escalating in the West Philippine Sea.
03:33Patrick De Jesus from the National TV for a New and Better Philippines.
