Philippines, allies begin SAMASAMA naval exercise in West Philippine Sea

MANILA, Philippines — As Filipino fishermen deal with another round of Chinese bullying in Philippine waters particularly around Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal, a multilateral naval exercise in the West Philippine Sea jointly led by the Philippine Navy (PN) and US Navy kicked off yesterday.

This year’s SAMASAMA Exercise, which runs until Oct. 13, is aimed at promoting a rules-based international order as well as a free and open Indo-Pacific Region. Organizers stressed the naval exercise is not directed at the Chinese.

The exercise will include discussions and interoperability maneuvers with the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force, Royal Australian Navy, Royal Canadian Navy and the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy. Details like the number of men and ships involved have not been revealed.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines earlier said the Royal New Zealand Navy and Indonesian Navy were involved in the exercise as observers.

The SAMASAMA Exercise “used to be a bilateral exercise but we thought of expanding it to become a multilateral exercise,” PN chief Vice Admiral Toribio Adaci said.

“This is strengthening our competencies, the technical competencies of our sailors and of course the Marines, this is promoting interoperability, this is promoting alliances and partnerships and it does not necessarily have to be conducted in a particular place,” he said, referring to the ongoing exercise.

Adaci added that the 2016 Arbitral Award on the West Philippine Sea “speaks for itself and the ruling upheld the sovereign rights of the Filipinos in the West Philippine Sea and that is basically following international law and this is what we would promote, a rules-based international order.”

US 7th Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Karl Thomas said this year’s SAMASAMA Exercise aims to prove “that the global maritime commons are used by everybody and everybody wants the global maritime commons to be free and open so our navies inherently sail and operate together.”

He noted that eight navies participating in the exercise strictly adhere to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

“We all want peace in this region and by demonstrating that we know to operate in accordance