MANILA — The National Coast Watch Center (NCWC) on Friday held its first inter-agency Alalayan Exercises in Manila Bay, which it said was not a direct response to the recent territorial tensions in the West Philippine Sea.

The exercises aim to enhance the capabilities of the Philippine Coast Guard and other government agencies in dealing with maritime incidents, including fire at sea, blocking ships carrying illegal drugs, and intercepting smuggled goods.

The NCWC said the drills were planned some three months ago, well before Manila accused the China Coast Guard of blocking and water cannoning Philippines vessels on a resupply mission to Ayungin Shoal last week.

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“Wala naman po kinalaman yun (WPS issue), but it is always good to be prepared in any eventualities. We keep training our personnel," said Coast Guard Vice Admiral Roy Echeverria, director of the NCWC Maritime Security Law Enforcement Command.

"We are also lucky to have thriving relationships with like-minded partners like European Union and the US who support us in our training," he said.

Echeverria said canceling the event following the latest West Philippine Sea incident was not an option.

"There's really no secret message from this exercise. It is just we want this to push through especially at this time na yung weather natin ay laging maulan and it is good to have it on a fair weather for all agencies to be able to test yung different capabilities nila na hindi naman nahihirapan," he said.

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Alalayan Exercises conducted in Manila Bay. Video courtesy of the Philippine Coast Guard

MARITIME TECH

What sets the Alalayan Exercises apart from other maritime routine simulations is the use of the IORIS or Indian Ocean Regional Information Sharing and Incident Management Network.

The IORIS is a secured communications platform for interagency planning and coordination when responding to incidents.

The European Union donated the IORIS system to the NCWC and other agencies, such as the Philippine Coast Guard, to respond to maritime incidents.

The EU expressed willingness to assist the Philippines in enhancing its maritime security.

"These kind of exercises are kind of complex. It seems to be working quite well. [We are] happy to see that we can support this with the IORIS platform," said Political Counselor Frederic Grillet, Representative of the European Union Delegation in the Philippines.

"I've spoken with officials who said that the platform does fill the gap that was existing beforehand in order for this agencies to cooperate."

The NCWC Commander welcomed the EU's offer, saying the data-sharing technology could improve response time to maritime incidents. The ability to quickly gather and analyze information would enable the marine authorities to make informed decisions and deploy appropriate resources promptly.

"With (IORIS), we share information and intelligence. Before, the agencies would keep it to themselves. Now it is always good to share it with our partner agencies. The more we get information, the better informed we are and the better decisions [the] we arrive at," Echeverria said.

The EU also pledged to assist the Philippine Coast Guard in assessing threats and building the capacity of the National Coast Watch Center.

"There is also currently another EU project, enhancing security in Asia which is also an EU project looking into capacity building of various agencies in the Philippines. They are currently scoping whether there is an area where they can fill in or how they support the Philippine Coast Guard and other Philippine agencies," Grillet said.

The European Union representative said another sub-committee meeting on maritime cooperation in September could open more partnerships and cooperation agreements addressing Philippine maritime issues.

"The EU is for free and open Indo-Pacific based on rules, based on international order. So we think that it is important that these rules based on international order is complied with and supported and we will continue to do so and in the coming months and years." Grillet said.

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WATER CANNONS

Meanwhile, some scenarios at the Alalayan exercises included intercepting the entry of smuggled goods and illegal drugs into the Philippine seas and responding to a fire-at-sea incident, which uses the ships' water cannons.

NCWC clarified that the use of water cannons by the Philippine Coast Guard is limited to putting out fires.

"Water cannons are placed there, manufactured for our ships to be used on ano lang (just for) for firefighting," Echevarria said.

When asked if the water cannons could also be used to drive away other ships, Echevarria replied, "Pwede rin pantaboy pero hindi pa natin na-encounter yung ganyang anong situation."

“Siguro in some instances for example, in extreme instances may gulo sa dagat. Pero wala namang gulo, bakit natin gagamtin ang water cannon?” he added.

(It could be used to drive away other vessels, but we have not encountered that. Perhaps in can be don in some instances, in extreme instances. But if there is no conflict, why will we use a water cannon?)

The NCWC and the EU are mulling another Alalayan exercise by November this year.

The NCWC is an inter-agency maritime surveillance and coordinated response facility established in September 2011.

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