{"id":273398,"date":"2020-10-29T06:47:07","date_gmt":"2020-10-29T10:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=273398"},"modified":"2020-10-29T06:47:07","modified_gmt":"2020-10-29T10:47:07","slug":"ph-us-affirm-strong-defense-alliance-in-security-engagement-meet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/10\/29\/ph-us-affirm-strong-defense-alliance-in-security-engagement-meet\/","title":{"rendered":"PH, US affirm strong defense alliance in security engagement meet"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fb-post\" data-href=\"https:\/\/web.facebook.com\/armedforcesofthephilippines\/posts\/10158577537098766\" data-show-text=\"true\" data-width=\"\">\n<blockquote class=\"fb-xfbml-parse-ignore\" cite=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/armedforcesofthephilippines\/posts\/10158577537098766\"><p>AFP, USINDOPACOM Chiefs affirm strong alliance amid challenges<\/p>\n<p>CAMP AGUINALDO, Quezon City&#8211;Armed Forces of the&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Posted by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/armedforcesofthephilippines\/\">Armed Forces of the Philippines<\/a> on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/armedforcesofthephilippines\/posts\/10158577537098766\">Thursday, October 29, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 The Philippines and the United States reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening their defense alliance.<\/p>\n<p>This came as Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff, Gen. Gilbert Gapay, and US Indo-Pacific Command commander, Admiral Philip Davison, on Thursday convened the Mutual Defense Board &#8211; Security Engagement Board (MDB-SEB) Meeting, which was held virtually for the first time due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We view the alliance as a strong and resilient partnership that needs to be responsive to the ever-changing security environment,&#8221; Gapay said.<\/p>\n<p>The MDB-SEB Meeting is being held annually between the AFP and the US Indo-Pacific Command to discuss security cooperation activities and a strategic vision for the alliance, anchored on the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The United States and the Philippines remain steadfast allies in our pursuit of regional peace and stability. Our close cooperation ensures our forces are interoperable and a formidable force for stability throughout the region while further strengthening the ties that make us such close friends, allies, and partners,&#8221; Davidson said.<\/p>\n<p>During the meeting, military leaders of both countries discussed the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) health crisis on the activities and other international engagements slated for 2021, including the annual &#8220;Balikatan&#8221; exercises.<\/p>\n<p>Gapay said the AFP envisioned the alliance with the US to continue with mutually beneficial activities that would result in greater interoperability between the two militaries.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our alliance should continue to provide the mechanism to further enhance our already robust defense cooperation by pursuing capability building initiatives for our interoperability,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p>Gapay also noted the importance of using Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement locations and other resources to ensure an effective response to different mission areas.<\/p>\n<p>Also discussed was the possible use of mitigating actions to prevent the transmission of Covid-19, including the use of training bubbles and the scaling down of exercises.<\/p>\n<p>However, he said events must conform to health and safety protocols, should the pandemic persist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AFP, USINDOPACOM Chiefs affirm strong alliance amid challenges CAMP AGUINALDO, Quezon City&#8211;Armed Forces of the&#8230; Posted by Armed Forces of &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":273399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-273398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-priam-nepomuceno","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273398"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":273400,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273398\/revisions\/273400"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}