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A broader look at today’s business
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Sunday, September 11, 2022 Vol. 17 No. 338
P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 12 pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK
MICHAEL TURNER | DREAMSTIME.COM
PBBM’s vow to defend PHL sovereignty gains broader global support
SENIOR Undersecretary Jose C. Faustino Jr., officer in charge of the Department of National Defense, right, receives Mary Kay L. Carlson, Ambassador of the US to the Philippines, during her introductory call on August 31, 2022, at Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo, Quezon City. PINKY ROSE FERNANDEZ/ DND, DCOMMS
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By Rene Acosta
RESIDENT Ferdinand R. “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s strong stance on the stillraging territorial issue with China, that he will not preside over a process that will abandon even an inch of the country’s territorial domain, has been clearly well received and understood abroad, especially by like-minded states from the West.
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 57.1400
UNITED STATES Marine Corps Commandant General David H. Berger (left) meets with Armed Forces of the Philippines Deputy Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Rommel Anthony SD Reyes at Camp Aguinaldo. AFP PAO
Barely more than a month after Marcos made the declaration before Filipinos, the country has seen a sharp uptick in its defense and security and diplomatic engagements with partners and allies, with both the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Department of National Defense (DND) at the center and of these activities.
Meetings and exercises
OVER the past weeks, the AFP and the DND have been busy at-
tending discussions and meetings, joining bilateral and trilateral military training and in hosting dignitaries and topranking military officials from the US, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Southeast Asia, with defense and security as the focus. This week, Filipino and American elite forces will cap the “Balance Piston,” a monthlong military drill which is being held in the waters off Palawan and not far away from the West Philippine Sea, which is being disputed
EMBASSY of the Philippines Chargé d'Affaires Robespierre Bolivar (right) delivers a speech as Japanese Parliamentary Vice Minister for Defense Kimi Onoda (left) and US Deputy Chief of Mission Raymond Greene listen during an opening session of the Center for Strategic and International Studies on US-Japan-Philippines cooperation in maritime security Tuesday, September 6, 2022, in Tokyo. About 20 maritime security officials and experts from the three countries discussed maritime security cooperation at the two-day session. AP/EUGENE HOSHIKO
by China. Airborne units from the Philippine Army and the US Army Special Operations Command Pacific (SOCPAC) undertook Balance Piston to enhance their joint interoperability. The training focuses on long-range marksmanship, combat marksmanship, close-quarters combat, small-unit tactics, unconventional warfare, maritime operations and full mission profile or culmination exercise. Just a week ago, the Philip-
pine Coast Guard and the United States Coast Guard (USCG) also held the search and rescue (SAR) exercise, the first for both in years, in the waters off Bataan and not too far away from the Chinese-occupied Scarborough Shoal near Zambales. The drills with the USCG Midgett, which also saw a series of sea-phase demonstrations, involved communication exercises, maneuvering drills, photo exercises, decoding messages through flag hoisting, flashing
n JAPAN 0.3966 n UK 65.7396 n HK 7.2796 n CHINA 8.2142 n SINGAPORE 40.6806 n AUSTRALIA 38.5581 n EU 57.1343 n KOREA 0.0413 n SAUDI ARABIA 15.2037
Source: BSP (September 9, 2022)