Philippine Government Delegation Visited 8 Wing/Canadian Forces Base Trenton As Part of Military Training And Cooperation Program

From the Ottawa Citizen (Apr 8): Philippine Government Delegation Visited 8 Wing/Canadian Forces Base Trenton As Part of Military Training And Cooperation Program

A Philippine Government delegation visited 8 Wing/Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Trenton, Ontario, on March 26 during their week-long visit to Canada as part of the Department of National Defence’s Military Training and Cooperation Program (MTCP).

“The MTCP meets the Government of Canada’s foreign and defence policy objectives by expanding and reinforcing Canada’s bilateral defence relations, while raising its national profile on the world stage,” said Jean Neron from the Directorate of Military Training Cooperation. “The Philippine Delegation is here to see how we force generate our rapid disaster assistance response capability with the intent of building a similar capability back home.”

The visit was initiated following the Disaster Assistance Response Team’s (DART) humanitarian assistance to Filipino communities hit by Typhoon Haiyan late last year.

“We are very grateful to the Canadian nation for their assistance through Operation Renaissance and we are very impressed how Canada’s DART capability was deployed very rapidly,” said Jesus Domingo, Assistant Secretary, UN and International Organizations, Department of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines. “We want to know more about the DART with the intent of learning Canada’s best practices so we can apply them in order to help more people.”

During the visit at CFB Trenton, Wing Logistics and Engineering Officer Lieutenant-Colonel Dany Breton briefed the group how the RCAF’s air mobility assets were employed to rapidly deploy the DART to the Philippines. The delegation also visited the DART warehouse, 2 Air Movements Squadron, a CC-177 Globemaster III and the National Air Force Museum of Canada.

Mr. Domingo said that they also visited the Canadian Army’s 1 Canadian Division in Kingston, Ontario, and the Canadian Joint Operations Command (CJOC) in Ottawa. They are also scheduled to visit the Department of Foreign Affairs Trade and Development (DFATD).

“What is admirable is to see the close relationship between DFATD, the Canadian Armed Forces, and other government departments,” said Mr. Domingo. “That’s also what we want to learn from and take points from in addition to how the Canadian military impressively organize expeditionary missions; we see a lot of good things we could apply.”

According to Lieutenant-Colonel Cesar Molina, Assistant Division Chief, Research Development Division, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, they learned a lot of best practices from Canada that they can replicate to better serve the people.

“Our country is frequented by typhoons and other natural calamities, learning how Canada organize and deploy such an impressive disaster response capability will help advance improve our process in helping our people,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Molina.

Canada’s bilateral relations with the Philippines are strong and friendly, and marked by close cooperation in a variety of areas, which includes promoting democratic development, good governance, rule of law, peace, and the promotion and protection of human rights in the Philippines.

There are ever increasing people-to-people links between Canada and the Philippines, with approximately 800,000 people of Philippine origin in Canada. In recent years the Philippines has become the largest source country for immigrants to Canada. There are approximately 7,500 Canadians residing in the Philippines.

http://blogs.ottawacitizen.com/2014/04/08/philippine-government-delegation-visited-8-wingcanadian-forces-base-trenton-as-part-of-military-training-and-cooperation-program/