Zero kidnapping incidents in Sulu sea since 2020 due to trilateral cooperation

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines’ trilateral cooperative arrangement (TCA) with its neighbors Indonesia and Malaysia resulted in zero incidences of kidnapping in Sulu and Sulawesi seas, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said on Tuesday.

Lorenzana said there has been no kidnappings in the said area since 2020, which was previously considered a hotbed for such incidents.

“It’s been more than two years and there is not much kidnapping and it is very good, [it means] our tactic or strategy is working,” Lorenzana said in an ambush interview in Taguig.

Lorenzana revealed this after he visited Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on March 28 to attend a ministerial meeting with Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto about the TCA between the three countries.

The TCA was signed in 2017, which led to the conduct of joint patrols and sharing of intelligence between three countries.

The defense chief said the three countries also agreed to institutionalize TCA yearly, increase the joint monitoring in the area, even eyeing the possibility of joint training on land.

“We’ll do it more, intensify more, put more assets like ships, fast ships, and airplanes, reconnaissance to patrol the area,” Lorenzana said.

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