THE Philippines and Singapore are one in pursuing peace and stability in the Southeast Asian region.
Department of National Defense (DND) officer in charge-Undersecretary Jose Faustino Jr. and Ambassador Gerard Ho of Singapore made this commitment during a meeting at the DND Headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City on August 3.
“The two sides exchanged views on the security situation in the region,” DND Spokesperson Arsenio Andolong said in a statement. “Acknowledging the realities of strategic competition and overlapping territorial claims, both sides concurred on the significance of maintaining peace and stability in the region, as well as strengthening cooperation with partners.”
The meeting also highlighted that the Philippines and Singapore are like-minded countries that share common security concerns.
“Faustino recalled exchanges between the Armed Forces of the Philippines with its Singaporean counterparts during his time at the Philippine Army, and expressed satisfaction over how far [the two countries’] defense relations have come since then,” Andolong said. “The ambassador also noted bilateral exchanges, and raised the pending discussions on frameworks of cooperation between the defense establishments of the two countries.”
DND’s spokesperson also imparted that Singapore envisions itself as a long-term partner of the Philippines, and that Ho also hoped such frameworks of cooperation would be finalized soon.
“The OIC assured the ambassador that the DND will work with relevant agencies in following up the pending review of proposed frameworks between the Philippines and Singapore,” Andolong confirmed.
The spokesperson added that the Singaporean envoy welcomed Manila’s participation in the Fullerton Forum and the Shangri-La Dialogue, considered as Asia’s annual premiere defense forum hosted by the city-state.
“He also welcomed opportunities for [Faustino]…to visit Singapore,” he said.
Polish CDA visits DND
AS this developed, Faustino on the following day interacted with Jaroslaw Szczepankiewicz, chargé d’ affaires (CDA) a.i. of the Polish Embassy in Manila.
The DND OIC recalled the successful visit of the former defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana to Poland in 2021, and proposed the establishment of a dialogue mechanism between the defense establishments of the Philippines and Poland.
He also conveyed the positive feedback on the Black Hawk helicopters that were procured by the Philippines. The CDA welcomed prospects of defense cooperation between the two countries.
Both sides discussed logistics and defense-industry collaboration, with the CDA sharing the experiences of Poland in the field of defense technology.
Andolong shared that the CDA underscored the importance of training and sustaining existing technology through the establishment of service centers and maintenance of equipment. These, he said, can be achieved by “exploring possible areas of cooperation between the Philippines and Poland, to include sharing of experiences with certain defense technology.”
The two officials exchanged views on current regional and global security situations, as well as long-term security outlooks and the existing alliances of their respective countries.
They also recalled their countries’ histories in their respective regions. Both sides also mentioned the local economy, and the importance of food security.
Faustino expressed appreciation for the CDA’s call, as Poland is one of the European countries that have existing defense relations with the Philippines.