Jauhn Etienne Villaruel

Article (news)

Bianca Dava

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1772158171278HCIAdnUbAAAFjC8_cropped_processed_by_imagy.png" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">For the first time, the multilateral maritime cooperative activity reached the Bashi Channel though air patrols conducted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, United States Indo-Pacific Command, and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. 📷 AFPAO</span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><p>MANILA <strong>(UPDATED) </strong>— For the first time, the multilateral maritime cooperative activity (MMCA) extended to the Bashi Channel though air patrols conducted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, United States Indo-Pacific Command, and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force.</p><p>The Bashi Channel is a strategic waterway separating Mavulis Island in Batanes from Taiwan.</p><p>The 15th MMCA was conducted in the West Philippine Sea from February 20 to 26.</p><p>Philippine forces deployed a range of naval and air assets, including the Navy’s BRP Antonio Luna with an embarked AW159 helicopter, FA-50 fighter jets, a C-208B aircraft, an A-29 Super Tucano, and a Sokol helicopter from the Air Force. </p><p>The Philippine Coast Guard also participated with the BRP Gabriela Silang.</p><p>The United States contributed the USS Dewey and a P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, while Japan deployed its P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft.</p><div><br/></div><p>STRATEGIC SIGNIFICANCE OF NORTHERN PATROLS</p><div><br/></div><p>Rear Adm. Roy Vincent Trinidad, Philippine Navy spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, underscored the importance of conducting air patrols in the northernmost part of the country and of training with defense partners.</p><p> “It is significant because it allows us to plug and play with modern militaries, modern air forces, and modern navies. It is our contribution to ensuring regional stability and a peaceful rules-based international order,” he told reporters in a Zoom interview on Friday.</p><p>He said the exercise also allowed Philippine ships to practice operating “in the four dimensions of warfare: surface, subsurface, air, and electronic warfare.” </p><div> </div><div><strong>CHINESE WARSHIP MONITORED</strong></div><div> </div><p>A warship of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy with bow number 174 was monitored during the air patrols but Trinidad noted it did not conduct any aggressive or untoward actions that interfered with the exercises.</p><p>The ship did not issue radio challenges either, he said.</p><p>No radio challenges were also issued by the monitored vessel, he added.</p><p>The official said the recent MMCA represents a significant expansion of the AFP’s maritime activities, which used to be limited to waters off Zambales and Palawan.</p><p>“It is a great step forward when we say that we are now doing 360 degrees maritime domain (MDA) and maritime operations,” Trinidad said.</p><p>He said the MMCAs could &quot;probably&quot; expand to the country&#x27;s easter seaboards as the Philippines “[looks] at all possible scenarios that we could do MMCAs with our treaty ally and like-minded nations.&quot;</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>NOT MEANT TO PROVOKE TENSIONS</strong></div><div> </div><p>Trinidad stressed that the MMCA conducted in the northern part of the country is not directed against a particular country amid developments across the Taiwan Strait.</p><p>“These are designed for the AFP to make us more modern and more professional by allowing us to integrate with modern air forces, modern ground forces, modern naval forces—in short, modern militaries,” the official said.</p><p>“This is part, actually, of the thrust of the CADC [Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept] to allow us to be able to integrate with other militaries within our EEZ,” he added.</p>

<p>The Bashi Channel is a strategic waterway separating Mavulis Island in Batanes from Taiwan.</p>

The Bashi Channel is a strategic waterway separating Mavulis Island in Batanes from Taiwan.

PH-US-Japan air patrols reach Bashi Channel for first time

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PH-US-Japan air patrols reach Bashi Channel for first time

Bianca Dava,

ABS-CBN News

Published February 27, 2026 10:11 AM PHT

|

Updated February 27, 2026 03:42 PM PHT

Read More:

MMCA

multilateral maritime cooperative activity

Philippines

United States

Japan

Armed Forces of the Philippines

Bashi Channel

air patrols

West Philippine Sea

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