ZAMBOANGA CITY: The US Department of Defence has been helping the Philippines improve its capability in territorial defence and awareness on weapons of mass destruction (WMD), the US embassy in Manila said.
The capability build-up comes amid the territorial dispute of the Philippines and China.
In a statement yesterday, the embassy said the Defence Threat Reduction Agency of the US Department of Defence conducted a senior executive training on maritime domain and WMD awareness in the Philippines.
The members of the Philippine’s National Coast Watch System (NCWS) also joined the four-day seminar in Manila that culminated yesterday. The training highlighted the long standing partnership between the US and Philippines in enhancing the maritime safety and security.
The embassy said the training focused on building on and improving the teamwork of the different departments of the Philippine government in addressing threats.
“During the week, discussions centred on how to build on and improve interagency collaboration in the Philippines to enhance maritime domain awareness, strengthen maritime law enforcement, and improve the Philippines’ WMD proliferation prevention capabilities,” the statement said.
The seminar initiated the establishment of a “roadmap” for the further development of the NCWS, and was established in September last year by President Benigno Aquino III through Executive Order 57.
Among the members of the NCWS were the Philippine departments of Transportation and Communication, National Defence, Foreign Affairs, Interior and Local Government, Justice, Energy, Finance, Environment and Natural Resources, and Agriculture and chaired by Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa.
The Philippine star
