Carabao-Kangaroo Defense Ties
Australia Steps Up Military Aid to Philippines

The Australian government will increase military assistance to the Philippines for counter-terrorism and coastal watch. Additional assistance will be in the form of surveillance equipment and ships to support the Philippines secure its marine borders against “terrorism.”

By Caesar Ben Basan Baroña
Bulatlat

SYDNEY, Australia - The Australian government will increase military assistance to the Philippines for counter-terrorism and coastal watch. Additional assistance will be in the form of surveillance equipment and ships to support the Philippines secure its marine borders against “terrorism.”

This developed as Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said in a recent TV interview here that his government’s Federal Police last June sent police and intelligence unit to the Philippines to probe into the alleged links between the suspected extremist group, Abu Sayyaf, and the Jemayah Islamiyah (JI), said to be a secret network of “terrorists” in Southeast Asia.

Tony Hely, Australian ambassador to Manila, was quoted last week as saying, “We’re working collectively and effectively with each other to build up the Philippines' capacity to eradicate terrorism."

In a statement following a two-day meeting between Australian and Philippine defense officials in Manila, Hely also said that his country will help the Philippines meet international security standards in guarding its seaports in the southern Philippines. Foreign Islamic militants are believed to have teamed up with local jihadists, he added.

The two-day meeting, which began Aug. 23, aimed to expand defense cooperation including military training and was headed by Philippine Defense Undersecretary Alejandro Melchor and Australian Defense Assistant Minister Ben Coleman. Military experts and planners also joined the meeting.

The two countries also discussed “reform initiatives in the Philippine military to which Australia has signified interest and support,” it was learned.

After the United States, Australia is the second largest foreign provider of training to the Philippine military. It has offered military training for 70 officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) under Canberra's A$2.5 million (or US$1.8 million) defense cooperation program for the Philippines. Soon, it will also open 80 extra training slots for Filipino troops over the next year, reportedly to boost the country's counter-terrorism and maritime security capabilities.

The Philippines can also tap into the A$40.3 million Regional Counter-Terrorism Package budget set aside by Canberra for 2005-2006.

Mindanao

Meanwhile, Philippine Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz revealed that an Australian team of experts would be sent to Mindanao to review the security situation and study equipment needs in order for the military to patrol Philippine borders. Aside from surveillance equipment, other prospective military assistance includes long-range patrol aircraft, a modern radar system and a fleet of faster ships.

The Philippines and Australia signed a defense cooperation agreement in 1995. The two countries have a bilateral relationship on counter-terrorism. In this connection, Australian federal police have been reportedly deployed in Manila to help in counter-terrorism training.

In addition to these is cooperation between agencies of both countries, including the AFP and the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO), Philippine National Police (PNP) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). Aside from financing and logistics, cooperation involves intelligence sharing and capability training. Australia helps finance a Center on Transnational Crime.

The defense cooperation is ostensibly in pursuit of terrorists. Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer defines terrorists as "unlawful combatants," meaning those that cannot be classified as "people who take up arms in an army and wear a uniform" and therefore the Geneva Conventions (on the "rules of war") do not apply to them, according to him.

Earlier on Aug. 11-12, Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo led a delegation to Australia for the Inaugural Philippines-Australia Ministerial Meeting (PAMM).

While in Sydney, Romulo and Downer strengthened government-to-government talks and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that, among others, would formalize bilateral ministerial consultations for at least every two years.  They also adopted an Action Plan on Philippine-Australia relations that covers specific understandings on bilateral cooperation in the areas of security and economic cooperation.

In the meeting, the Philippine and Australian ministers agreed to establish inter-agency counter-terrorism consultations at the senior official level to further enhance security cooperation.

“To strengthen and better coordinate cooperation in addressing the pressing issue of terrorism, we announced our commitment to establish a bilateral mechanism that will harness the full potentials of inter-agency consultation and coordination on counter-terrorism,” Romulo said.

“Acknowledging our gain in the war on terrorism, Australia agreed to double its assistance to us on counter-terrorism to A$10M (US$7.5M). We also agreed to broaden our cooperation on border security and on fighting transnational crimes, including piracy and human trafficking,” the foreign secretary said.

AFP training

Defense cooperation between the two countries has centered on training of the AFP. In the 1995 defense cooperation agreement, both countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that broadened the defense relationship to allow access to each other's military facilities, exchange intelligence information and conduct cooperative undertakings in military science and technology.

In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 bombings in the U.S. and the Bali bombings in 2002 that killed several Australian tourists, the Philippines and Australia signed a bilateral MoU on Cooperation to Combat International Terrorism in March 2003. This was followed by another MoU on combating transnational crime, linking the Australian Federal Police and the Philippine National Police, also in 2003.

In his state visit to the Philippines in July 2003, Australian Prime Minister John Howard pledged a three-year, A$5 million package for counter-terrorism assistance to the Philippine Government. This was doubled in October 2004 to A$10 million over a five-year period.

Australia also has trade and mining interests in the Philippines. Bulatlat

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