|
|
Friday, June 01, 2007
New Australia-RP defense pact to boost Southeast Asia's security: Arroyo (8:15 p.m.)
MANILA -- The Philippines' new security pact with Australia would bolster the military's fight against terrorists and improve security in Southeast Asia, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said Friday.
"We received a huge boost in mutual security with the new Status of Forces Agreement that will help to professionalize our military through training ... along with the vital contribution of special sea crafts to help us fight terrorists lurking in the swamps and shadows of remote southern islands," Arroyo said in a statement.
"By working together on a regional basis, we hope to make our country and the entire region safer and more secure for our God-fearing people," she added.
Australia and the Philippines signed the security pact Thursday that will allow their militaries to hold counterterrorism exercises.
Australian soldiers will not take part in combat operations.
Australia has also promised to donate 28 high-speed gunboats worth about 4 million Australian dollars (US$3.28 million; euro2.44 million) to the Philippine military.
The security accord was signed in Canberra during Arroyo's first official visit to Australia. She witnessed the signing along with Australian Prime Minister John Howard.
Philippine troops have been pursuing two Indonesian terror suspects on a southern island where a U.S.-backed offensive was launched against al-Qaeda-linked militants last year.
Dulmatin and Umar Patek, both key operatives of the Jemaah Islamiyah terror network, are believed to be hiding on Jolo island with allies from the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group.
The two men are suspects in the bombings on the Indonesian resort island of Bali that killed 202 people in 2002, including 88 Australian tourists, and in an attack carried out with the Abu Sayyaf that gutted a ferry in Manila Bay in 2004, killing 116 people.
The United States has offered a US$10 million (euro7.4 million) reward for Dulmatin's capture and US$1 million (euro740,000) for Patek. (AP)
|
|
|
|
