Coast Guard holds drills in Cebu under Asia counterterrorism exchange
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Coast Guard’s District Central Visayas simulated a counterterrorism operation last week in waters off Mactan, Cebu as part of a cooperation program with South Korea.
The exercise was part of the Asia Counterterrorism Intelligence Cooperation 2023 Exercise Exchange organized by the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency and South Korea’s National Intelligence Service.
Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Thailand, and Uzbekistan are also participants in the exchange.
Exercises were held on May 24 with personnel simulating maritime law enforcement and search-and-rescue operations.
While the PCG is more known for search-and-rescue and maritime law enforcement operations, it also has anti-terrorism units and has been holding exercises against kidnapping.
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Representatives of the Czech Republic, Japan, and Sweden attended the exercise as observers.
The PCG will also conduct its first-ever trilateral maritime exercises with the United States and Japan this week. Drills will focus on interoperability in anti-piracy, search-and-rescue, and law enforcement operations.
The Coast Guard emphasized that the exercises are not meant to be a response to any particular country or threat.