The Philippine Air Force (PAF) on Tuesday announced that it will resume responsibility for coordinating humanitarian airlift operations.
A US Air Force C-130H aircraft delivered the last shipment of USAID relief requested for delivery to Tacloban Airport Nov. 23, and passenger service from the airport is at a level sustainable by Philippine air assets, officials said.
The move coincides with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Monday announcement that it will take the helm it shared with the Joint Force Maritime Component Commander in coordinating all maritime assets assisting the typhoon relief effort.
The announcement initiates the retrograde of Joint Task Force 505's Air Component Coordination Element (ACCE) which stood up Nov. 16 to assist the effort initially led by the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade.
"The ACCE has met all air coordination requirements and assistance benchmarks set by the Philippine government and the JTF," PAF chief Lt. Gen Lauro Catalino Dela Cruz said.
"The PAF is thankful for their support during the initial and surge response phases, but we are confident that their assistance is no longer required," he added.
Brig. Gen. James Hecker, commander of ACCE JTF-505, said it was an honor to bring the ACCE's unique capability to bear alongside joint and coalition partners during Operation "Damayan".
"Our ability to coordinate scalable joint and multinational air assets allowed us to augment the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade's established processes supporting the Philippine government's airlift mission," Hecker said.
"With aid now in place where it needs to be, and the lines of communication improving at sea and on the ground every day, the demand for large-scale command and control has ceased. The PAF is fully capable with the scope of the operation where it's at now, and we will continue supporting them in our normal Pacific theater Joint Force Air Component Commander role," he added.
During the relief effort, the ACCE provided air liaison to JTF-505 and the Joint Force Land Component Commander, which supported more than 1,100 air sorties that have delivered over 2,000 tons of relief supplies to date.
Air assets also evacuated more than 20,100 people from affected areas and delivered more than 2,000 relief workers into Tacloban, the region hit hardest by Supertyphoon "Yolanda".
For the AFP’s part, it has conducted a total of 698 sorties via its air assets and 49 sorties via its naval assets from November 9 to 20. Over 11 million pounds of relief goods were also ferried by AFP air and naval assets, and 135 trucks of relief goods were transported by ground assets in Leyte, Ormoc, Guiuan, Borongan, Samar, Camotes, Bantayan, Cebu, Tagbilaran, Roxas, Aklan, Iloilo, Palawan, Masbate, and Mindoro as of November 20.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=590875
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