Defense pact paves way for Phl-Japan 'Balikatan'

The armed forces of the Philippines and Japan may hold large joint training exercises in the country-comparable to the annual Balikatan exercises with the United States once Manila and Tokyo sign a reciprocal access agreement (RAA).

- MICHAEL PUNONGBAYAN

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said it is looking forward to the signing of the deal, expected during next week's 2nd Philippines-Japan Foreign and Defense Ministerial Meeting (“2+2”) in Manila.

“We are hoping that during that meeting, the RAA or the reciprocal access agreement will be signed,” AFP chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said at a press briefing on Thursday at Camp Aguinaldo following a mid-year command conference with President Marcos.

“The RAA is very important because it will allow Japanese forces, Japanese troops to come into our country to conduct trainings together with us. It will also allow our troops to come to Japan to train with them,” Brawner said.

Without such an agreement, Brawner said the AFP can only engage in subject matter exchanges with its Japanese counterparts on humanitarian assistance and disaster response (HADR) operations.

“But with the RAA, it will allow us to conduct more than just HADR operations but actual military operations,” he pointed out. He clarified, however, that the AFP is not privy to negotiations for an RAA but has provided relevant parties with inputs.

AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla also said an RAA would allow for joint military exercises with Japan.

“So whatever we’re doing in Salaknib and Balikatan, these can be replicated,” she told reporters, noting that this year’s Balikatan exercises involved not just the US, but the armed forces of Australia and France as well, making the event one of the biggest.