English: FORT BONIFACIO, Metro Manila– The heads of the Philippine Army (PA) and Royal Brunei Land Forces (RBLF) met at the PA Headquarters yesterday, November 13, to sign the Terms of Reference (TOR) that will expand the two armies’ bilateral cooperation.

Brig. Gen. Dato Seri Pahlawan Awang Khairul Hamed Bin Awang Haji Lampoh was invited by the Philippine Army Commanding General Lt. Gen. Macairog S. Alberto for the signing of the TOR, effectively implementing the Memorandum of Understanding on Defense Cooperation between Philippines and Brunei signed on Aug. 22, 2001.

The TOR serves as the guideline as well as the rules of procedure for future activities between the PA and RBLF as it embarks on having a deeper partnership. The two armies intend to conduct working group meetings, training courses, bilateral trainings, exchange of visits, subject matter expert exchanges, and intelligence exchanges. In previous years, the PA and RBLF was limited to student exchange programs for its personnel.

Khairul expressed his gratitude for the Philippine Army’s invitation as he stressed the importance of the event. “This is a historical visit and moment that will expand the relationship between our armies,” he said.

Brunei is among the ASEAN states in which the Philippines had an MOU on Defense Cooperation with. Australia, Canada, Russia, Spain, UK, Israel, and the USA are also Philippine defense partners.

Alberto, on the other hand, said that there is a lot of things that the PA is looking forward to do with the RBLF. “We continue to improve our ties with international counterparts to establish a stronger regional security through cooperation. The Royal Brunei Land Forces as our partner is among our priorities when it comes to that.” Alberto added.