SOME activities for this year’s Balikatan exercises between Philippines and United States troops will be conducted in areas considered as international waters, Balikatan’s executive agent Colonel Michael Logico said Wednesday, March 20, 2024.
In a press conference, Logico said that for the first time in the history of Balikatan, some activities will be conducted beyond 12 nautical miles or 22.22 kilometers off the west coast of Palawan.
“We will be utilizing the western side of Palawan, extending beyond our 12 nautical miles so this is also a new thing. We have done group sails before but this time, we will be going beyond our 12-nautical-mile limitation,” Logico said.
“Kasi in previous exercises, we've been limited to just 12 nautical miles, now we are encouraging or we are venturing outwards beyond that… When you are talking beyond 12 nautical miles, that is already international waters,” he added.
Logico said the events that will take place there will be a combination of division tactics; search and rescue; vehicle, boarding, search, and seizure exercises; gunnery exercises; deck landing qualifications; and well deck operations.
He said 11,000 US troops and 5,000 AFP personnel will join the Balikatan 2024.
Logico said military troops from France and Australia are also expected to join while 14 other ally countries will serve as observers. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)