The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is looking forward to the creation of the Implementing Rules and Regulation (IRR) of the Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) following its ratification by the Japanese Diet last week.

"More details will be tackled when the IRR comes into play. So with all of this, we've seen that for the past years, there's been an active participation by the Japanese here in the Philippines in the different exercises," AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Padilla told reporters in a press conference at the Philippine Army headquarters in Taguig City on Monday.

"We're expecting this to happen soon but there's no really direct timeline that's being given," she added.

However, Padilla noted that "prior to the signing of the RAA" the AFP has an existing mechanism with its Japanese counterparts which just need to be enhance.

"We already have existing mechanisms with them. So we'll just need to enhance those and of course have it in different branches of service each to their own. this is going to be happening all in tandem," she added.

Philippine Navy spokesman for the West Philippine Sea, Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad said the RAA "will allow the AFP the opportunity to be able to interact with a first world country in terms of military-to-military activities."

"The RAA provides a basis for interaction between the military forces of the Japan Self-Defense Forces and the AFP. Details of that will have to be further ironed out at the defense department for the AFP to execute. This is just the legal reference or legal basis for both countries to be able to engage militarily. But details will have to be ironed out further," he said.

"It will afford our men and women the opportunity to be able to have hands-on training with modern weaponry. And it would also be an eye-opener to us on what there is as a way ahead for the Armed Forces modernization program," he added.

The Senate ratified the RAA following the public hearing conducted by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations which was attended by Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. last November 25, 2024.

The RAA that was signed by Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and Japanese Foreign Minister Kamikawa Yoko in the presence of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo and Japanese Defense Minister Kihara Minoru on July 8, 2024 was ratified by the Senate of the Philippines in 2024. Robina Asido/DMS