MANILA, Oct. 13 (PNA) — Ranking Filipino and American military officials are poised to meet for the annual Mutual Defense Board-Security Engagement Board (MDB-SEB) to be held Tuesday at Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.
Major Gen. Domingo Tutaan, AFP spokesman, said that participants will discuss pertinent issues regarding the United States and Philippines’ military-to-military relations.
He added that the MDB-SEB meeting will focus on mutual security concerns to demonstrate increased bilateral commitment to the 63-year-old Mutual Defense Treaty between the Philippines and the United States which was signed in 1951.
Among the key issues to be discussed during the MDB-SEB meeting are Mutual Defense, Maritime Security, Combating Terrorism, Philippine Defense Reform, Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response, Civil-military Operations, Peacekeeping, Transnational Crimes, and Cyber Security.
AFP chief-of-staff Gen. Gregorio Pio P. Catapang Jr. is serving as the chairman for the Philippine delegation.
His counterpart is Admiral Samuel Locklear III, Commander of the US Pacific Command.
They are both co-chairman of the MDB.
Also attending are the AFP Major Services Commanders; the Chief, Philippine National Police; the Commandant, Philippine Coast Guard; the Executive Director of the Presidential Commission on the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).
Other participants include representatives from the Department of National Defense (DND) and Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), the Deputy Commandant of the Philippine Marines and the Commander of the Special Operations Command, Philippine Army.
Both the Philippine and US delegation will seek to map out the direction of a bilateral defense partnership to sustain the dynamism and growth of the Philippine-US alliance and develop ways to ensure the continuing stability of the long-standing Philippine-US strategic alliance, which has grown stronger through the years of steadfast cooperation in a rapidly changing global environment.
Some of the expected major outputs of this year’s meeting will be the strategic direction for the bilateral engagement, the bilateral activities for year 2015, the five-year work plan in support of the Philippine-US “Balikatan” activities, revised Terms of Reference for the Standing Committees and its sub-committees to include changes in the memberships.
The Board Meeting, which implements the Mutual Defense Treaty between the Philippines and the United States, is an affirmation of the long-standing defense cooperation between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the United States Military.
The MDB-SEB meeting signifies that the partnership between the US and the Republic of the Philippines remains robust, dynamic, and beneficial to both parties, and underscores the unrelenting commitment of both countries towards a more secure Asia-Pacific region. (PNA)