Indonesian And Philippine Warships Joint Patrol On Border

JAKARTA - The warship of the Republic of Indonesia KRI Kakap-811 and the Philippine warship BRP Artemio Ricarte PS37 patrolled together at the sea border of two countries, namely the Sulawesi Sea on the Indonesian side and the Mindanao Sea on the Philippine side.

Head of the Information Service (Kadispen) Fleet Command (Koarmada) II Marine Colonel (P) Widyo Sasongko explained that the joint patrol was packaged in routine activities of the Philippines-Indonesian Coordinated Patrol (Patkor Philindo) XXXVIII-2024 (Pahap 2), Thursday (27/6).

"The exercise aims to secure the Indonesia-Philippine border area from all forms of the threat of piracy, as well as strengthen the interoperability of relations between the two countries," said Head of the Indonesian Navy's Second Koarmada Office, as reported by ANTARA, Friday, June 28.

In this coordinated patrol activity, two countries warships also train together at the Indonesian-Philippine sea border. The series of exercises that KRI Kakap-811 participated in and Philippine warship BRP Artemio Ricarte PS37 included maneuvering exercises (mannex), passenger exercise, formation training for aerial photos (PhotoEx), and closed with respect from each ship before the two continued patrols.

In the same activity, the Philippine Navy also deployed its aircraft, namely the NV394 Aircraft District Court.

The Commander of KRI Kakap-811 Marine Major (P) Kukuh Dwiyanti explained that the activity was a form of contribution from the Indonesian Navy in guarding the sea border area of the two countries, as well as to hone the soldiers' abilities in dealing with various threats.

KRI Kakap-811 which is under the control of the Marine Security Group (Guskamla) Koarmada II TNI AL is currently in the task of operating to maintain marine security around Sulawesi waters.

Indonesia and the Philippines share maritime borders in the Sulawesi Sea and the Sulu Sea. These territorial waters are often places of operation for pirates and terrorist groups Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), as well as vulnerable to smuggling of goods and humans.

Therefore, the Indonesian Navy and Navy routinely carry out coordinated patrols every year packaged in the Patkor Philindo activities. The activity refers to the Indonesian and Philippine state border crossing agreements (BCA) agreed in 1975.