Phl to participate in region-wide disaster relief training

MANILA, Philippines  (Xinhua) - The Philippine Navy said today that it will participate in a large-scale training exercise on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations in Indonesia.

Navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Gregory Gerald Fabic said the Hamilton- class cutter, BRP Gregorio del Pilar, will be deployed on Saturday to join the exercise which will be participated in by 17 countries in Asia.

Dubbed as the "Komodo 2014," the training will kick off on March 28 and will run until April 3. Fabic said its goal is to improve the ability of participating countries to respond to natural disasters.

He also said Komodo 2014 aims to come up with a common humanitarian assistance and disaster relief protocol which can be adopted by member-countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as well as ASEAN plus countries.