PAF holds surveillance operations in Batanes

(UPDATE) THE Philippine Air Force (PAF) conducted a series of maritime surveillance operations on Monday to spot possible intruders on the country's northern frontier.

PAF Public Affairs Chief Col. Ma Consuelo Castillo said that a C-295 aircraft conducted a fly-by over Itbayat, Sabtang and Babuyan Islands, covering the northern Philippine territorial waters.

Castillo said the maritime surveillance operations that covered the northern tip of Batanes Island were a parallel effort by PAF to enhance the wide external defense mission of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) within the country's northern seaboard.

The aerial operations were PAF's complementary mandate to provide support to the Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) Maritime Air Patrol (Marpat) operations.

In the course of the operations, Castillo said «no significant activities or sightings [of intruders] were reported.»

PAF's surveillance operations came days after Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. visited the naval detachment on Navulis Island in Batanes, directing the AFP to increase the tempo of operations to safeguard the nation's territory and sovereignty.

Teodoro had also ordered the AFP to increase the presence of troops in Batanes as he inspected a Naval Forward Base Mahato on Batan Island, Batanes.

He also called for the development of more structures, noting that Batanes is the «spearhead of the Philippines as far as the northern baseline is concerned.»

China has persistently and aggressively made dangerous maneuvers against Philippine vessels inside the country's exclusive economic zone.

China Coast Guard vessels, along with dozens of militia ships, had conducted maneuvers for days, interfering with the activities of Filipino fishermen in the Scarborough Shoal or Bajo de Masinloc.

Authorities last week monitored Chinese vessels reinstalling an anchor the Philippine Coast Guard had removed to give fishermen uninterrupted access to Bajo de Masinloc.

«Collaborating closely with other branches of the AFP and unified commands, the PAF remains committed to ensuring a coordinated response and comprehensive security within the country's maritime borders,»