For decades, the Sulu Archipelago, a collection of three main provinces in the southern Philippines, has served as a primary route for trafficking, illegal fishing, and smuggling illicit materials into the country. The islands create a seam between the Celebes and Sulu Seas, ending less than 50 miles from Malaysia. The area contains two vital sea lanes to the Philippines, the Sibutu Passage and the Basilan Strait. Violent extremist organizations (VEOs), like Abu Sayyaf Group, have used these southern sea lanes to funnel weapons and people to fuel illicit activities throughout Mindanao, the most southern region of the Philippines. For more than 20 years, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) have fought VEOs throughout rugged mountains and thick jungles in this region. Now, the AFP’s is shifting their strategic focus to maritime security (MARSEC).1 With help from U.S. Special Operations Forces led by Marine Raiders, AFP units are developing methods and processes to secure the sea lanes and enhance the Philippine’s territorial defense.

In March of this year, Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signed Executive Order No. 57, creating the National Maritime Council (NMC) to strengthen the nation’s MARSEC. President Marcos emphasized the need to strengthen MARSEC through Maritime Doman Awareness (MDA) amid “a range of serious challenges that threaten not only the country’s territorial integrity, but also the peaceful existence of Filipinos.”2

For many of the AFP partners who have lived on Mindanao, they know first-hand how smuggling from the sea can impact local communities. “Illicit goods coming in from other countries have hurt our local economy, and that has a negative impact on the individual and their families,” said Major Emery Torre, acting Operations Officer for Joint Task Force Tawi- Tawi, one of the subordinate task forces in the southwestern region of Mindanao.

“There are cases of bad actors entering the country and creating local chaos in the southern Philippines,” said Captain Cesar Pangan Jr., Operations Officer for Naval Forces Western Mindanao (NFWM) Command. He adds “It may be one way of weakening us.”

In 2002, U.S. SOF began rotating troops to Mindanao to support the AFP, successfully conducting operations to remove VEOs from the central regions of the islands. Mindanao encompasses the southern third of the country, roughly 700 miles south of the Manila, the nation’s capital. As Barry Stentiford writes in his book, Success in the Shadows, “The enhanced security in the region provided by the improved Philippine military and the improvements in public infrastructure allowed for sustained economic and social stability—diminishing the conditions that had fueled the insurgency.”3

With this success, a new mission emerged: maintaining internal security to prevent VEOs from resurfacing by protecting the local borders. In order to cut off VEO supply lines to prevent this resurgence, the Philippines identified the importance of shifting the Armed Forces Philippines’ (AFP) focus to MARSEC.4

To put this new focus into action, NFWM, with the support of U.S. Marine Raiders, developed their fourth iteration of Joint Maritime Security Training Exercise (JMSTX)–an AFP- led exercise focusing on the enhancement of MARSEC in the Philippines. Captain Pangan, Captain Cesista, the commanding officer of Task Force 61, along with AFP forces throughout the Sulu Archipelago designed this iteration of JMSTX to enhance interdependence, integration, and interoperability (I3) by creating a joint interagency task force (JIATF). To enhance the JIATF I3, AFP units developed scenarios for the JIATF to conduct maritime interdictions of smuggling and other illicit activities.

The exercise spanned three provinces throughout the Archipelago: Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi. JMSTX focused on command and control between multiple units integrating across these provinces during each of the training scenarios. “Different AFP units may have different standard operating procedures,” said Captain Pangan. “This exercise gave us the opportunity to interact with each other and develop primary, alternative, and emergency communication plans from one unit to another.”

During execution, a vessel, acting as a suspicious ship, traveled from Basilan to Tawi-Tawi using known and historic smuggling routes. Littoral Monitoring Stations (LMSs) along this corridor monitored the sea lanes, identified vessels, and routed reports. Each province in the exercise had a responding JTF who would then task an action unit with locating the vessel and conduct a maritime interdiction, rehearsing a concept called visit, board, search, and seizure (VBSS). Multiple units across the JIATF practiced boarding, searching, and clearing a ship of illegal supplies and smugglers. “The units appreciated the interoperability of getting to work with each other,” said Lieutenant Colonel Frank Baylon, the officer in charge of training and education for Joint Task Force Orion. He adds “For the troops that executed the vessel boarding, they were able to see their work pay off after several weeks of training.”

Rear Admiral Donn Anthony Miraflor PN, Commander of NFWM, says “an exercise like JMSTX is timely.” Philippine JMSTX participants have expressed an interest in expanding future iterations of the exercise. Moving forward, the AFP will rely on their LMSs to monitor vessel movements through their sea lanes. “The infrastructure put in place, with the LMS, is not just for the Navy or Coast Guard,” says Captain Pangan. He says by design, monitoring facilities offer all AFP units information critical to territorial security.

During the final After Action Review of the exercise, the Marine Raider Task Force Commander emphasized that JMSTX highlighted the resolve of the United States – Philippine Partnership.

A relationship born more than 70-years-ago still shows no sign of wavering; and while the operating environment may change, the United States and Philippine partnership will remain steadfast.

Citations

1. Centino, General Andres. Internal Security Gains Prompt Focus on Territorial Defense, Armed Forces of the Philippines, 4 July 2023

2.Marcos Jr., President Ferdinand R. “ESTABLISHING A NATIONAL COAST WATCH SYSTEM, PROVIDING FOR ITS STRUCTURE AND DEFINING THE ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF MEMBER AGENCIES IN PROVIDING COORDINATED INTER-AGENCY MARITIME SECURITY OPERATIONS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.” Executive Order 57, 25 Mar. 2024.

3.Stentiford, Barry M. Success in the Shadows: Operation Enduring Freedom-Philippines and the Global War on Terror, 2002-2015. Combat Studies Institute Press, 2018.

4. Torrecampo, Rej. A Paradigm Shift in the Philippines’ Defense Strategy: The Country’s New Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept is Part of a Gradual Reorientation from an Internal to an External Security Focus. The Diplomat, 4 April 2024.