WNAM REPORT: The Indonesian and Philippine navies are conducting a joint patrol along the national maritime border as part of the third phase of the Philippine-Indonesia Coordinated Patrol (Corpat Philindo) XXXVIII mission this year.
Head of the information office of the Navy’s Second Fleet Command, Colonel Widyo Sasongko, said on Friday that Indonesia’s KRI Marlin-877 and Philippine’s BRP Artemio Ricarte (PS37) naval ships have been deployed for the mission from September 5 to 14, 2024.
The joint patrol was officially launched on Monday (September 9) at the Felix Apolinario Naval Station in Davao, the Philippines, in the presence of the Indonesian Navy’s Manado Naval Base VIII commander, Commodore May Franky Pasuna Sihombing.
Sihombing said that the coordinated patrol is a regular activity of the two navies based on a border agreement inked in 1956, which also provided the legal basis for the development of a joint Border Committee.
“The Border Committee has been established to ensure smooth border and traditional cross-border activities (and) patrol operations in the countries’ maritime border, as well as to expedite the resolution of issues arising in the maritime border,” he added.
Indonesia and the Philippines share maritime borders in Sulawesi and the Sulu Sea. The area is known to be frequented by pirates and Abu Sayyaf-affiliated terror operatives. It is also a route for cross-border smuggling and human trafficking.
According to the official website of the Indonesian Navy’s information office, the ongoing phase of the Corpat Philindo XXXVIII follows the second phase of the mission conducted in June this year.
During the mission’s second phase, the Indonesian Navy deployed KRI Kakap-811, operating under the Maritime Security Cluster of the Navy’s Second Fleet Command. Meanwhile, the Philippines used the same ship it has deployed for the current phase.
At the time, besides joint patrol, the two ships were also involved in joint training that covered maneuvering, communication, passing, semaphore, aerial photo formation, and sail past exercises.
