THE Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Tuesday assured the public that all scheduled military operations and exercises will proceed as planned despite the global oil crisis due to tensions in the Middle East.
“All AFP activities for this year that are operational in nature will continue. We could not afford to have a letdown in performing our mandate,” Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, AFP spokesman for the West Philippine Sea (WPS), told reporters in a press briefing at Camp Aguinaldo.
Also, the Salaknib (shield) and Balikatan exercises with the United States and Japanese forces will push through as planned from April to May.
Last year, Balikatan, an annual large-scale joint military exercise between the Philippines and the United States, mobilized over 14,000 Filipino, American, Japanese and Australian forces.
The AFP, however, said that the number of US troops and military assets is up to the American military to determine.
As the offensive party, the United States has deployed over 50,000 troops for the Iran conflict.
Since the armed confrontation began in late February, critics have warned of depleted US weapon stockpiles.
Likewise, Arab states in the Persian Gulf are reportedly running dangerously low on interceptors to take down Iranian retaliatory attacks.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called this claim a “bad miscalculation” and assured American forces that their stockpiles of defensive and offensive weapons “allow us to sustain this campaign as long as we need to.”
The Philippines and the United States plan broader security engagements in 2026, including the deployment of US missiles and uncrewed systems to deter aggression in the West Philippine Sea.
