ISABELA CITY, Basilan, Nov 28 (PIA) – The
Naval Task Group 80.1 of the Philippine Navy, the country’s participants to the
recently concluded Maritime Training Activity (MTA) SEAGULL 05/12 between the
Philippine Navy and Royal Brunei Navy, arrived at 2lt Lagare Pier, Tide Pole,
Parola in Palawan on Tuesday Nov 27.
In a press release, Acting Public Affairs
Officer 2Lt Ann F Abrigo PN(M) shared that MTA SEAGULL is a bilateral naval
exercise hosted by Negara Brunei Darussalam and is the fifth in the series of
bilateral engagement held every two years.
She said it is aimed to foster better and
more cordial relationship between the two navies and enhance interoperability.
As the Guest of Honor, Commander of Western
Command LtGen Juancho M Sabban AFP led the ceremony in welcoming home the
participants.
“From November 19 to
25, nothing was handed to you, except the opportunity to enhance your
capability and represent the fighting spirit of the Philippine Navy in the
western front,” LtGen Sabban said.
The Commander commended the participants for
grabbing the chance, which he considered as an achievement in itself.
“Now that you are back with the new found
knowledge, I am confident that you are all more enthused by your commitment to
service for aggressive efforts toward peace and security in the Area of
Responsibility (AOR),” he stressed.
“As participants of the recently concluded
maritime training, you have accepted the responsibility to define a better
future in this part of the country”, he added.
Although WESCOM is making important progress,
LtGen Sabban said that efforts need to get further along in creating a platform
of lasting success. Through unified endeavors, Palawan and the Kalayaan Islands
Group (KIG) will surely embrace a more promising future.
“I urged everyone to continuously get
dynamically involved in moving the last frontier ahead. This is just a starting
point. There is more to do. And together, we can do it best,” he concluded.
NTG 80.1 is composed of two ships, namely BRP
Artemio Ricarte (PS37) and BRP General Mariano Alvarez (PS38), a team from
Naval Special Operations Group and a support/evaluation group from Fleet-Marine
Ready Force led by Commo Alexander S Lopez AFP, with a total compliment of 118
personnel.