US Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin and Defense Chief Gibo Teodoro.
THE US Task Force Ayungin will not directly participate in actual Philippine force missions in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
The US Task Force Ayungin is part of the United States’ support for Philippine forces in the country’s maritime zones.
In a report by Chino Gaston for “24 Oras” on Thursday, National Security Adviser Eduardo Año said that members of Task Force Ayungin, the group identified by US Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin during his visit to Palawan, are not involved in actual missions in the WPS.
“ISR maritime domain awareness, so they help provide information about that,” Año said.
“On actual direct participation, it is a purely Philippine operation, the [Western Command] supported by the Philippine Coast Guard,” Año added.
Meanwhile, in a statement, US Embassy spokesperson Kanishka Gangopadhyay said the task force has strengthened “coordination and interoperability” between allied forces at sea.
“Task Force Ayungin enhances US-Philippine Alliance coordination and interoperability by enabling US forces to support Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) activities in the South China Sea,” Gangopadhyay said.
Gangopadhyay added that the initiative is aligned with the line of cooperation between the Philippine and US forces.
This includes the processing of the Mutual Defense Board-Security Engagement Board (MDB-SEB) and Bantay Dagat framework, “in addition to our long-standing shared efforts to address regional challenges, foster stability, and promote a free and open Indo-Pacific region.”
