Exercise Seagull ends
By CT Hj Mahmod

Lt. Col (L) Syed Abdillah signing the Seagull Report

Lt. Col (L) Syed Abdillah and Capt. Vicente
Magdamag, exchanging mementos

The first bilateral naval exercise between the Royal Brunei Navy and the Philippine Navy codenamed "Exercise Seagull 01-03", ended yesterday. It was officiated by Capt. George Tuy, Commander Ready Force of the Philippine Navy. Attending yesterday's closing ceremony were the Deputy Commander of RBN Lt. Col (L) Jorsni bin Hj Lamat, Fleet Commander of RBN, Lt. Col (L) Syed Abdillah bin Dato Syed Hussein, Deputy Commander, TG 34.1, Capt. Vicente Magdamag, PN, Cdr. Jaime Bernardino PN, as well as personnel from both navies.

In his closing remark, Lt. Col (L) Syed Abdillah stated that the objectives for the exercise were met.

"Both navies worked closely in a very professional manner in conducting operational planning together, and in doing so ideas have been exchanged to develop warfare capabilities.

"This enhanced the combat readiness of the two forces with the established interoperability developed through the exercise."

Capt. George Tuy, in his closing remarks expressed his hopes that they would "further develop and enhance the foundation of this combined effort", where he believed that future endeavours would further strengthen and unify both nation's efforts and aspirations of promoting peace, harmony and co-operation in the region.

This was followed by the signing of the Seagull Report by both CTG 34.1 (Commander Task Group), Lt. Col. (L) Syed Abdillah, and DCTG 34.1 (Deputy Commander Task Group), Capt. Vicente Magdamag PN.

Also held was an exchange of mementos between personnel of both navies - Maj (L) Hj Aznan, CO KDB Waspada with Cdr. Jaime Bernardino, CO BRP Pangasinan, and Maj (L) Spry, CO KDB Pejuang with CO BRP Leovigildo Gantioqui.

The week long inaugural exercise, commenced from April 7 till 14, and involved seven ships - five from the Royal Brunei Navy and two from the Philippine Navy. A total of 250 personnel from both navies took part.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin