“Matibay ang walis, palibhasa’y magkabigkis. A broom is sturdy because its strands are tightly bound.”
Rear Admiral Takashi Natsui invoked the Filipino saying Tuesday evening on the flight deck of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) helicopter carrier JS Ise, pledging that Japan and the Philippines “will be more powerful in the region” the closer they draw together.
The commander of Escort Flotilla Four was addressing diplomats, senior Philippine Navy officers and foreign guests during a reception marking the 71st anniversary of the Japan Self-Defense Forces and the Manila port call of the Ise and destroyer JS Suzunami.
“Through these defense exchanges we will continue to enhance our relationship, and together we will contribute to peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, and strive to maintain an international order based on the rule of law,” Natsui said, describing Manila and Tokyo as “reliable and inevitable partners.”
The two ships are on Indo-Pacific Deployment 2025 (IPD25), a months-long cruise that will take them through a series of multilateral drills “to improve our tactical skills and strengthen our partnerships in support of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific,” the admiral added.
Earlier in the day, the Philippine Navy rendered arrival honors and hosted a disembarkation ceremony for foreign officers who had joined the flotilla under the Ship Rider Cooperation Program, underscoring the deployment’s multilateral focus.
Japan’s actions come as the two United States treaty allies embed their security cooperation in law. The Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA), the first such pact Japan has signed in Asia, cleared the Philippine Senate in December 2024 and won final approval from Japan’s National Diet on June 6, 2025, clearing the way for regular deployments and joint exercises on each other’s soil.
With the pact poised to enter into force, Tokyo has stepped up high-profile visits. Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara was in Manila in February, and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba followed in late April to reaffirm what both sides now call a “Strengthened Strategic Partnership.”
The Ise’s visit is the latest in an accelerating schedule of at-sea cooperation:
Humanitarian assistance drills under the trilateral Balikatan exercise this year included JMSDF ships alongside US and Philippine forces.
Japan has pledged additional coastal surveillance radars and is supplying air-defense systems and utility helicopters under its new Official Security Assistance program.
In May, navy divers from both countries conducted a bilateral mine-counter-measure exercise off Bataan.
Against a sunset view of Manila Bay, guests sampled sushi and tempura prepared by uniformed JMSDF chefs as the admiral reiterated Japan’s readiness to “step up our security and defense cooperation to maintain a rules-based order.”
“If we get closer, we will be able to be more powerful in the region,” Natsui said, raising his glass in a toast. “Maraming salamat.”
The Ise and Suzunami are scheduled to sail Thursday for the South China Sea to rendezvous with regional partners for the next phase of IPD25. Their departure, naval officials said, will be followed later in the year by a larger amphibious task force—further proof, they added, that the broom’s strands are indeed binding ever tighter.
