US providing spy planes to Phl troops
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) yesterday welcomed any help from allies, such as the two spy planes being offered by the US government to combat terrorists in Marawi City.
Ambassador Sung Kim has said the US will provide two surveillance planes to the Philippines to assist troops fighting the Islamic State-inspired Maute group.
“All activities with the US, to include assistance on technical intelligence, are all part of
the Mutual Defense Board-Security Engagement Board (MDBSEB) agreed to actions/events under the provision of the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT). If they can help to fight terrorism, then it’s great,” AFP chief Gen. Eduardo Año said.
While the US offer of help is a welcome development, Año said any support to be provided by allies, especially the US, has to be approved by President Duterte.
The US would deploy in Mindanao in a couple of weeks two Cessna 208 aircraft with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities.
Government forces are still battling the Maute terrorists in Marawi City, and the urban setting is making it harder for ground troops to penetrate the zone of conflict without any aerial intelligence data on the possible locations of terrorists.
In an interview on ANC’s Headstart, Kim said the Cessna 208 aircraft have intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities.
“We’re going to do everything possible to support the AFP as it tries to secure the area,” Kim said.
The surveillance planes, he said, will be deployed to the Philippines in a couple of weeks.
The ambassador stressed that the Philippines and the US have a “very, very strong alliance.”
“We’re partners, allies and friends, and we help our friends and partners in time of need, and the Marawi situation is clearly a very difficult situation for the Philippines,” he added.
In his speech at the 241st anniversary of the US Independence Day reception held last July 6 at the Makati Shangri-La, Kim said the US is deeply committed to the alliance with the Philippines.
Kim believes the Philippines is likewise “committed” to the long-standing alliance between the two countries.
The Philippines and the US are bound by a 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty and two other agreements that allow US troops to have rotating presence in the country.
Col. Edgard Arevalo, AFP Public Affairs Office chief, said the military is grateful for the US offer to send two surveillance aircraft to assist in fighting terrorists in the country.
“As it has always been said and it has always been expressed by the AFP, the matter of combating terrorism itself is a global concern. It’s everybody’s concern. It’s every nation’s desire to quell, that is why we welcome every pronouncement of expression of assistance and actual giving of assistance to the AFP with regard to this kind of help for us to be able to defeat the terrorist group,” Arevalo said.
Aside from the assistance that the AFP is getting from the US and Australia in fighting the Maute in Marawi, the defense department received an offer from the Singaporean government to also provide Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance support.
Source said the offer was made by visiting Singaporean defense minister Ng Eng Hen during his meeting with Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana yesterday at the Marriott Hotel in Pasay City.
In principle, Lorenzana, the source said, welcomed the offer of help but the defense chief has to seek clearance first from Macalañang before officially accepting this form of assistance.
US travel advisory
Meanwhile, the US warned its citizens from embarking on non-essential trips to Marawi City and the Sulu archipelago due to attack and kidnapping by separatist and terrorist groups.
The State Department issued the travel warning on Monday, urging Americans to exercise extreme caution when traveling to other regions of Mindanao, due to terrorist threats, insurgent activities and kidnappings.
The travel warning said there is a threat of kidnapping-for-ransom of foreigners, including US citizens, from terrorist and insurgent groups based in Sulu and the southern Sulu Sea. This area stretches from the southern tip of Palawan, along the coast of eastern Sabah, Malaysia and the islands of the Sulu archipelago, up to Zamboanga City, Mindanao.
“Separatist and terrorist groups continue to attack and kidnap civilians, foreigners, political leaders and Philippine security forces in Mindanao,” the travel warning said.
It mentioned the declaration of martial law throughout the Mindanao region on May 23.
The travel warning also mentioned that in September 2016, a terrorist group detonated a bomb in Davao City, killing 15 and wounding at least 70 people. Following the attack, the Philippine government declared a “State of National Emergency on Account of Lawless Violence in Mindanao.”
In May 2017, an ongoing conflict erupted between terrorist groups and Philippine security forces in Marawi City, resulting in multiple dead and injured.
In central Mindanao, the travel warning said extremist groups aligned with the Islamic State, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and other armed groups have carried out attacks on local government institutions, civilians and security forces in the Cotabato City area and in Maguindanao, North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat provinces, where the government maintains a state of emergency and a greater police presence.
In Mindanao, terrorists, insurgents and criminal gangs regularly conduct kidnappings for ransom. Since January 2017, at least six separate kidnappings have been reported.
Brig Gen. Cerilito Sobejana, commander of the military’s Joint Task Force Sulu (JTFS), assured foreigners that security forces are in full control of Sulu and the surrounding waters.
Sobejana gave the assurance in the wake of the latest travel advisory issued by the US.
“We are dominating control of the security situation here in Sulu. The public is behind us in our effort against lawless elements and all forms of criminalities,” Sobejana said.
He added that JTFS has created an Interagency Task Group to address concerns affecting the populace in the island province. –