The United States has ramped up its efforts to help the Philippines safeguard its sovereignty over the West Philippine Sea and recently created a dedicated task force for its ally in the region.
The task force is called Task Force-Ayungin, which is named after Ayungin Shoal, which is a feature within the West Philippine Sea that witnessed multiple acts of harassment initiated by China against the Philippines, particularly during the Philippines' rotation and resupply missions to the grounded BRP Sierra Madre.
But little is still known about it, except for the following:
The establishment of the task force by Washington was only disclosed during US Defense chief Lloyd Austin's November visit to Manila—his fourth in the Philippines.
Austin also gave hints that several American servicemen were deployed to the task force. But it is not surprising since the US is often creating task forces that are made up of a small section of its army, navy or airforce assigned with a specific mission or task.
Meanwhile, according to Kanishka Gangopadhyay, spokesman for the US Embassy in Manila, the Task Force-Ayungin enhances US-Philippines alliance's "coordination and interoperability by enabling US forces to support Armed Forces of the Philippines activities (AFP) in the South China Sea."
He said the initiative is actually aligned "with multiple lines of cooperation between forces of the two countries, including the Mutual Defense Board-Security Engagement Board (MDB-SEB) process and the Bantay Dagat framework."
MDB-SEB are two boards that form the framework that directs and enables defense and security cooperation between the US
and Philippine militaries.
Meanwhile, the Bantay Dagat (Guardian of the Sea) framework is a designed to enable a holistic, intergovernmental approach to maritime security through the interoperability of US and Philippine maritime forces and option to include interagency organizations.
The announcement of the establishment of the task force came after the Philippines and the US signed an agreement to share military information.
On Nov. 15, the AFP also announced that it conducted a successful RORE mission to BRP Sierra Madre with "no untoward incident," which was a good development considering that Philippine troops had always experienced aggression from China during the said mission.