Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia agree to enhance cooperation to curb sea crimes

The Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia had agreed to enhance defense cooperation to curb rising piracy, smuggling and other criminal activities in the Sulu Sea, the border area common to the three Southeast Asian countries, a government statement said Sunday.

The Philippine National Defense Department said in a statement Sunday that the agreement to have a "coordinated patrol" was reached during a meeting of Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein and Indonesian Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu at the sidelines of the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting in Vientiane, Laos on Thursday.

The three ministers also agreed "to pursue joint training, with Indonesia proposing to have joint exercises at least twice a year" among the three countries, the statement read.

"They agreed to ensure timely sharing of relevant information and to this end direct their respective intelligence units to be more open in sharing databases of criminals," it said.

The statement said it was Indonesia that "proposed to have joint posts of coordination within our countries' respective borders."

"They also agreed to use existing platforms in undertaking joint patrols," the statement said.

The statement also said that the Philippines regularly conducts coordinated patrols with Indonesia while the Philippines has anti-smuggling agreement with Malaysia.

"The idea of coordinated patrol is in accordance with the Joint Declaration on Immediate Measures in the Maritime Areas of Common Concern which was signed by the three countries' foreign ministers and chiefs of defense forces last May 5. A framework and subsequently a standard operating procedure are currently being crafted among our respective technical level officers," it said.

To sustain high level ministerial dialogue regarding this matter, the statement said the three ministers agreed to once more have a trilateral meeting in June 2016, with Gazmin slated to host the said meeting in the Philippines.

The authorities in the three countries have noticed a surge in maritime attacks in the shipping route around Sulu Sea, including piracy, kidnapping and smuggling being carried out by Islamic militants like the Abu Sayyaf group. Editit