Philippine Coast Guards Fast Patrol Boats this 2018

I've chance upon today an article shared by a Facebook page named "Defense Review", contents was about the selection of OCEA to supply 4 fast patrol boats and 1 offshore patrol boats to the Philippine Coast Guard. So I was looking for the source article but it wasn't on the FB post. I tried searching online and it pointed me to an article posted January 8, 2018 at NavyRecognition.com entitled "OCEA to Supply Patrol Boats and OPV to Philippines Coast Guards".

So I said to myself, Cool! I have the source article, but something was still bugging me with the article, since I haven't encountered any news from our local media outlets regarding this purchase. So I went back to the google search results and all of the articles were from 2014, except for 1, the article was from the Diplomat dated September 13, 2017 and entitled "When will the Philippines Get its New French Vessels?"

So this project was really from 2014. According to the Diplomat, the project was formalized with a contract signing between the Department of Transportation and French shipbuilder OCEA in September 2014. The Philippines was expected to receive 5 ships - one (1) 82 meter Offshore Patrol Vessel and four (4) 24 meter fast patrol boats. It also includes a five-year preventive maintenance, spare parts for five years, and technical assistance and training for the crew.

The project moved along even with the change of administration back in 2016. Sometime around April, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade visited the OCEA shipyard in Sables d’Olonne, France to inspect the four 24-meter fast patrol boats.

Then on September 6, Department of Transportation Undersecretary for Maritime Affairs Felipe Judan and OCEA’s director of maritime safety and security, Fabrice Weinbach, signed the contract effectiveness agreement for the acquisition of the vessels. The signing was witnessed by Secretary Arthur Tugade and French Embassy representative Laurent Estrade.

The first fast patrol boat is expected to be delivered to the Philippines after eight months, with remaining ones arriving in succession after a 45-day delivery gap, and the OPV arriving up to 23 months following the signing of the contract, according to the Diplomat.

After reading the Diplomat article, I tried to look again for the source of the January 8, 2018 article that was posted in the Navy Recognition website, so I went to the OCEA SSM website which is the website for OCEA's Maritime Safety & Security. And there I found the source, the manufacturer themselves. The article was entitled "World Premier - an 84 meter OPV in Aluminum". It highlighted a portion of the project and as well as the capabilities of the ships.

FPB 72MKII

Photo from OCEA SSM website.

The 24 meter fast patrol boats model name is FPB 72MKII. OCEA already delivered a number of these to Nigeria (2) and Suriname (1). The Philippines will be its 3rd user with the most number of ships for this model.

According to the manufacturers website, the FPB 72MKII will have a speed of 20-35 knots and a range of 600NM @ 12 knots. Crew of 8 plus an additional 3 personnel. The FPB is designed to operate in territorial waters and EEZ's

OPV 270

Photo from OCEA SSM website.

The OPV 270 is an 84 meter vessel designed to patrol exclusive economic zones. It can stay on patrol for 30-45 days and has a range of 4,500-8,000NM @ 12 knots. Ship speeds will be in the 20-30 knots. Crew size of 44, plus an additional 26 personnel, and can carry another 35 survivors during rescue situations.

According to OCEA the vessels are scheduled for delivery in 2018 for the 4 FPB 72MKII and in 2019 for the OPV 270.


Can we add more OPV 270's for the coast guard? What do you think?

DND verifying reports of China's fishing rule in disputed seas

The Department of National Defense (DND) said Thursday that it is ready to enforce the country’s maritime laws in the wake of reports that China is imposing fishing regulations in the West Philippine Sea ****.

“The defense establishment is ready to assist in enforcing the maritime rules in the Philippine EEZ (exclusive economic zone),” DND spokesman Peter Galvez said.

“We will enforce [measures to protect] our resources,” he added.

Galvez was asked to comment on reports that China is now requiring foreign fishermen to seek its permission to operate in the West Philippine Sea, the subject of a territorial row in the region.

The policy reportedly took effect last month and covered two million hectares of the area, which is rich in oil and maritime resources.

The Philippine government, however, is still validating the reports about the new fishing regulation.

“We will have to verify statements regarding this alleged fishing rules by China,” Galvez said.

The defense official, nevertheless, stressed that all countries “are free to enforce fishing rules within their own EEZ.”

Reports about the fishing regulation came two months after China imposed an air defense zone above waters separating China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

The policy which required all aircraft to identify themselves and to report their flight plans to the Chinese government while flying through the zone.

The zone, which spans 1,000 kilometers from north to south, drew flak from several countries who view it as an infringement on the freedom of flight in international airspace.

China is claiming almost the entire West Philippine Sea through its so-called nine-dash line, which covers more than 100 islets, atolls and reefs. China’s claims also overlap with those of the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, Brunei and Vietnam.

Last January, the Philippines challenged China’s territorial claim before an international tribunal of the United Nations.

The Philippines said China’s nine-dash line is exaggerated and contrary to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The country has also called on China to desist from unlawful activities that violate its sovereign rights and jurisdiction. China has ignored the Philippines’ protests and insisted that the dispute be settled through bilateral negotiations.

Chinese vessels even insensified the conduct of illegal fishing and patrols in areas that are well within the Philippines’ 200-nautical mile EEZ. The lack of military capability, however, has prevented the Philippine government from scaring or repelling the intruders.

Article Source: The Philippine Star

DFA breaks overall plan on Scarborough dispute in 3 tracks

MANILA, Philippines—Citing the Department of Foreign Affairs’ (DFA) comprehensive “overall plan” on promoting national security, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario has expressed confidence the Philippines could settle peacefully its Scarborough Shoal dispute with China, as well as other West Philippine Sea-, or South China Sea-related issues.

Del Rosario noted “the Chinese are now in violation of the (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Declaration on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea when they are preventing us from enforcing our laws in our Exclusive Economic Zone.”

Briefing reporters before he left for an official trip to the United States last weekend, the DFA head said they had “broken up (the) overall plan into diplomatic or political, legal and defense tracks.”

For the political track, he said the country would continue to push for the transformation of the West Philippine Sea into a Zone of Peace, Freedom, Friendship and Cooperation (ZOPFFC).

Del Rosario reiterated that under the ZOPFFC, Manila would observe a rules-based approach to all disputes in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

For the legal track, the DFA plans to continue coordinating with other concerned government agencies as it resorts to a dispute settlement mechanisms under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS.

“There are five of them and we’re assessing which one is best for us, one that will serve our purpose well,” he noted.

For the defense track, Del Rosario said the foreign office had committed to improve national defense by building a minimum credible defense posture to protect the country’s territorial sovereignty.

“We need this to complement our diplomatic capacity,” he emphasized.

Given the country’s lack of resources, he earlier said “it behooves us to proactively seek the assistance and cooperation of our various international partners (like the United States) to achieve this minimum credible defense posture, which is a fundamental attribute of any sovereign country.”

This year, the Philippines will be receiving about $144.66 million in defense assistance from the US, he disclosed.

Aside from the delivery of a second Hamilton-class Coast Guard cutter, “negotiations are likewise underway for more defense articles, including newer air assets for the Philippine Air Force. We also successfully secured funding in the amount of $53 million for radar systems to be used by the Coast Watch Council for enhanced maritime domain awareness,” he told a recent media forum.

According to Del Rosario, Manila is also updating its defense partnership with Washington under the two allies’ Mutual Defense Treaty, citing changes in the regional and global security environment.

He emphasized “our focal point for cooperation is to increase our capacity for territorial defense and maritime security.”

Last weekend, Del Rosario also said, “We’re in the process of being part of the drafting of the Code of Conduct (of parties in the South China Sea).”

He said, however, that “we ran on a little problem on that because the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Cambodia) appears to take that China should be invited early so that it could be part of selecting the major elements that could go to the COC in the part of the drafting committee.”

“So we’re saying that is in violation of the position that the centrality of Asean should be maintained. We think that the exercise of the major elements to be included in the COC, as well as the drafting of it should be internal among Asean (member-states). And once that’s done then, we can invite China,” asserted Del Rosario.

The West Philippine Sea remains a core national interest for the country, and “diplomatically, we are working to ensure that what is ours is ours,” he said, adding a rules-based approach would be the “only legitimate and viable way of addressing disputes in the West Philippine Sea.

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Jerry E. Esplanada | Philippine Daily Inquirer | April 29, 2012 | Article Link

UN approves Philippine territorial claim to Benham Rise

Benham Rise belongs to the Philippines.

The United Nations has approved the Philippines’ territorial claim to Benham Rise, an undersea landmass in the Pacific Ocean potentially rich in mineral and natural gas deposits, Environment Secretary Ramon Paje said.

“We own Benham Rise now,” Paje said in a media interview. “This is for future Filipinos,” he added, noting that the 13-million-hectare area off the coast of Aurora province has been shown to have rich mineral deposits.

Paje said the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) sent the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) a letter last week informing the agency that the landmass is part of the country’s continental shelf and territory.

Benham Rise, a seismically active region facing Luzon’s eastern seaboard, is rising slowly to the surface of the Pacific Ocean, Paje said. Perhaps, in a million years—a blink in the planet’s geological time—it will be habitable, he said.

Larger than Luzon

The plateau is a massive formation of basalt, a common volcanic rock, and is within coordinates 119°30’E to 132°00’E and 12°10’N to 20°30’N latitude.

Paje said Benham Rise, named after an American surveyor, is larger in area than Luzon. It has been shown to have natural gas deposits and manganese nodules, vital in the production of steel, he added.

Despite Benham’s proximity to the Philippines and its location within the country’s exclusive economic zone, the government did not claim it until 2008. Then, the next year, the government submitted a formal claim to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. The Philippine submission noted that the country reserves the right to submit further claims in the area.

The Philippines is the sole claimant of Benham Rise. The country is currently embroiled in territorial disputes over several islands in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

China and the Philippines are feuding over Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal, 220 kilometers (124 nautical miles) west of Zambales province.

The Philippines and some of its Southeast Asian neighbors are also disputing with China and Taiwan ownership of parts of Spratly Islands in the West Philippine Sea.

The Spratlys are believed to be sitting on vast deposits of minerals and natural gas, in an area spanned by sea lanes vital to global trade.

IN THE KNOW

BENHAM RISE is a 13-million-hectare undersea region that lies east of Luzon and off the provinces of Isabela and Aurora.

Also known as Benham Plateau, it is a massive formation of basalt, a common volcanic rock, and is described in a study as a thickened portion of the Philippine sea plate’s oceanic crust.

The formation lies within the continental shelf of the Philippines as defined by the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), under which a coastal state’s exclusive economic zone extends 370 kilometers (200 nautical miles) from its continental shelf, while its extended continental shelf extends for another 278 km (150 nautical miles).

Benham Rise is not subject to any maritime boundary disputes and claims.

Studies conducted by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) have indicated large deposits of methane in solid form in the area.

In August last year, Environment Secretary Ramon Paje announced that the Philippines will gain additional territory should the United Nations approve the country’s claim to Benham, which the country submitted to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in New York on April 8, 2009.

According to Paje, an American geologist, Andrew Benham, discovered the area, which was between 40 meters and 2,000 meters below the waterline, in 1933. Paje said gas deposits in the area would enable the country to achieve energy sufficiency. 

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Kristine L. Alave | Philippine Daily Inquirer | April 28, 2012 | Article Link

Philippine, Chinese ships face off near Spratlys

A senior Philippine military officer has revealed that Philippine and Chinese naval ships faced off near the disputed islands in the South China Sea in mid-March.

The military officer told NHK that a Chinese naval vessel approached a Philippine naval frigate on patrol in waters near the Spratly Islands.

The officer said tensions mounted between the 2 ships when they remained so close for some time as to be able to visually confirm each other's existence.

The officer said the face-off ended when the Chinese vessel left the scene.

The Philippines and China have territorial disputes over the Spratlys. The Philippines is conducting oil explorations in the waters called the Reed Bank near the islands. The country claims that the waters are within its exclusive economic zone. However, China strongly disputes this, arguing that the waters are within its EEZ.

Meanwhile, another Philippine military officer said his country agreed with Vietnam to stage a joint military exercise near the Spratlys.

Vietnam is also engaging in territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea. The Philippines and Vietnam are apparently boosting their military collaboration to keep China in check.

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NHK World (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) | March 30, 2012 | Article Link