IRR of PH, Japan RAA expected to be crafted soon

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Tuesday said the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) with Japan are expected to be crafted soon.

“We're expecting this to happen soon, but there's no really direct timeline that's being given,” AFP spokesperson Colonel Francel Margareth Padilla said in a press briefing. 

Last week, Philippine Ambassador Mylene Garcia-Albano said Japan's Diet ratified the RAA allowing the deployment of Japanese forces for joint drills with Filipino troops in the Philippines. 

Padilla noted that prior to the signing of the RAA, the two countries already have existing mechanisms that can be enhanced and expanded to different branches of military service.

“In the recent Balikatan exercises, they were actively participating as observers in different activities that we've conducted. We also have maritime patrols with Japan actively participating. And so we're looking at something to develop more like a [visiting forces agreement] of sorts,” Padilla said. 

“So we'll see in the coming days how these will all ensue and come into place,” she added.

The RAA, which similarly allows Filipino soldiers to enter Japan for joint combat drills, was approved by the Philippine Senate on December 2024.

Japan and the Philippines are establishing closer security ties in reaction to China's aggressive territorial assertions. 

Tokyo and Beijing are locked in a long-running territorial dispute over the Senkaku islands, which the Chinese call Diaoyu, in the East Sea.

Tensions continue as Beijing claims almost all of the South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion of annual shipborne commerce, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei.

Parts of the South China Sea that fall within Philippine territory have been renamed by the government as West Philippine Sea to reinforce the country’s claim.

The West Philippine Sea refers to the maritime areas on the western side of the Philippine archipelago, including the Luzon Sea and the waters around, within, and adjacent to the Kalayaan Island Group and Bajo de Masinloc.

In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines over China's claims in the South China Sea, saying that it had "no legal basis."

China has refused to recognize the decision. —VAL, GMA Integrated News