Manila, Aug. 19 -- The Philippine Army (PA) on Wednesday announced that its units in the Zamboanga Peninsula and Sulu are conducting two separate inter-agency territorial defense operations exercises (IA-TDOX) as part of ongoing efforts to beef up the "whole-of-nation territorial" defense approach.

In a statement, PA spokesperson Col. Louie Dema-ala said units from the 1st and 11th Infantry Divisions were the lead military formations for these drills.

For the Zamboanga Peninsula exercise, Dema-ala said the 1st Infantry Division's 97th Infantry Battalion played a major role, along with the PA's artillery and armor assets and personnel of the Philippine National Police, Philippine Coast Guard, Bureau of Fire, Maritime Police, CAFGU Activ...