New PH-US task force to be 'bigger' than Task Force Ayungin — Brawner

The newly formed task force by the Philippines and the United States will be “bigger” than Task Force Ayungin as it will cover more areas in the highly contested West Philippine Sea, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief General Romeo Brawner Jr. said Tuesday.

“...they said that actually, it's a result of the Task Force Ayungin becoming bigger and covering a bigger area, not just Ayungin,” he told reporters.

Task Force Ayungin is a bilateral military task force formed by Manila and Washington in 2024. According to the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the US troops in Palawan provide technical assistance through the information-sharing group within the Command and Control Fusion Center in Western Command.

Meanwhile, the new Task Force Philippines "will increase operational cooperation, improve combined planning, and enhance interoperability, particularly in the South China Sea," according to a statement from Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell.

“Well, as of yung narinig natin (what we have heard) so far, is that this Task Force Philippines will be a complete task force. So that it will be able to, as I said, address all the domains of warfare,” Brawner said.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. earlier said that he is hoping that the new joint task force between the Philippines and the United States would lower tensions in the West Philippine Sea.

Marcos said the task force is basically ''organizing ourselves into a more cohesive unit in terms of the protection of the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, the West Philippine Sea for us."  — RSJ, GMA Integrated News