The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has joined the five-day Command Post Exercise (CPX) held at the Multinational Operations and Exercise Centre in Changi Naval Base, Singapore.
The CPX is a component of the Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training (SEACAT) Exercise 2022 which introduced practices and improved procedures on information sharing and operational cooperation to address maritime challenges.
Twenty-two partner nations participated in the said initiative spearheaded by the Joint United States Military Assistance Group (JUSMAG) through the United States Navy (USN) and co-hosted with Singapore Navy.
During the sea phase and post-operations brief, the USN P-8A, a maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft, established communications with the PCG’s BRP Tubbataha (MRRV-4401) and BRP Cape Engaño (MRRV-4411) and provided multiple nine-line reports of fishing vessels within the operational area.
P-8A continued to pass vessels to PCG vessels while completing the surface plot.
The two PCG MRRVs investigated vessels relayed by P-8A and provided information to the PCG Southwestern Mindanao shore-based units located in Zamboanga City, while the PCG Auxiliary (PCGA) Fixed Wing Islander provided aerial photos of the vessel of interest as requested to augment during the exercise.
The PCG-CPX participants in Changi Naval Base received nine-line reports through a platform from the PCG Command Center and the PCG Southwestern Mindanao.
Moreover, the workshop included demonstrations of maritime domain awareness tools, information sharing and incident management tools, maritime surveillance capabilities, digital video recording systems, Earth and space imaging, intelligence, and vessel tracking platforms.
The information transmitted in the platform was used to detect the vessel of interest (VOI) and contacts of interest (COI), as well as activities that allow the participants to engage in regional cooperation set-up.
CG Commander Martin Bernabe provided the post-operations briefing to the SEACAT CPX participants.
Meanwhile, CG Lieutenant Commander Allan Enrico Alano presented the Philippine delegation’s comments to the Multinational Force Standing Operating Procedures (MNF SOP) which increases the speed of response, interoperability, mission effectiveness, and unity of effort in the multinational force operations within the Indo-Pacific region during crisis action situations.
Other PCG participants during the CPX were CG Commander Angela Salih (PCG International Liaison Officer of Information Fusion Center in Singapore), CG Lieutenant Junior Grade Aizel Polidario-Zamora (PCG District Southwestern Mindanao), and CG Ensign Jhoney Maybel Javier (PCG Command Center).
