The Philippine Navy (PN) on Monday, Feb. 28, expressed interest to foster stronger relations with the European Union (EU) as it acknowledged the presence of existing and emerging maritime security challenges in the Indo-Pacific region.

Rear Admiral Caesar Valencia, PN Chief of Naval Staff, admitted that the Philippines needs the help of “like-minded” nations if it wants to protect its maritime interests in the region, especially in the West Philippine Sea which has been the center of a territorial dispute with other claimant countries.

“Like the Philippines, many countries worldwide rely on oceans and seas for a variety of reasons. We consider these oceans and seas as shared maritime commons, deserving of our protection and preservation,” Valencia said during a webinar hosted by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP).

“However, this global commons are increasingly faced with an array of existing and emerging marine maritime security challenges,” he added.

These threats, according to Valencia, vary from unilateral attempts to limit the freedom of navigation “in attempts to shift the status quo,” non adherence to international law, piracy and armed robbery, maritime terrorism; illegal drug, firearms, and human trafficking by sea; illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (IUUF); and the intentional and unlawful damage to marine resources and marine environment.

Part of the EU’s expanded strategy for cooperation with countries in the Indo-Pacific region was the conduct of the on-going Critical Maritime Routes In the Indian Ocean (CRIMARIO) II with the PN and Philippine Coast Guard (PCG).

The CRIMARIO initiative is a project developed and launched by the EU in 2015 to “support partner countries and organizations to secure sea lines of communication that are vital for international trade and prosperity.”

Now on its second iteration, the CRIMARIO seeks to expand its geographical scope towards the South and Southeast Asia “to create a safer and more secure maritime domain through cross-regional cooperation.”

It is being managed by the EU's team of experts from France and will run until April 2024.

“There is a pressing need to preserve these waters and protect our access to these global commons because they are vital to an interconnected world and our survival,” Valencia stressed.

“Your Navy recognizes the need to collaborate with like-minded partners because unilateral solutions to address, resolve, or manage these regional security challenges may often seem inadequate,” he stated.

At present, the PN and PCG have already finished all three levels of the CRIMARIO 2 training – easy, intermediate, and advanced, according to CRIMARIO II project director Martin Inglott, a retired Maltese senior naval officer.

For the concluding exercises, the PN and PCG as well as their EU counterparts conducted a two-day humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) operations which will end on Tuesday, March 1.

“We expect to significantly benefit from the IORIS training. It will allow us to communicate, cooperate, and collaborate on mutual concerns, and we have already seen the benefits of this with a trilateral cooperation agreement with Malaysia and Indonesia,” Valencia said.

According to Inglott, the IORIS platform incorporates the latest technologies to ensure robust level of security in a web-based hosting environment. It enables government agencies from different countries to communicate and share data in real-time, thus, increasing the maritime domain awareness of participating countries.

“From this, we have seen the benefits of having a fusion center. There is something new to learn especially from the lessons learned that we will be getting from the Indian Ocean,” Valencia said.