FILE PHOTO: A Philippine marine points at the direction of the assault during an amphibious landing exercises between PHL and US armed forces held at Naval Station Leovigildo Gantioqui (NSLG), San Antonio, Zambales on October 9, 2015. (Willie Sy / Photoville International)
QUEZON CITY, Philippines — The Balikatan or shoulder-to-shoulder annual military bilateral training exercises of the Philippines and the U.S. serves to intensify the military training on humanitarian disaster response and inter-operability.
For 2016, more than three thousand Filipino soldiers and less than five thousand American soldiers will be participating in the 32nd iteration of the Balikatan military bilateral training exercises.
The training will start on April 4 and will end on April 15, 2016.
It will be conducted earlier than last year since the Armed Forces of the Philippines will need to prepare for the national elections in May 2016.
The event will be observed by several countries from the Southeast Asian Region namely, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, India, Japan, South Korea and Timor-Leste.
Participating Philippine and U.S. service members will also conduct humanitarian civil assistance projects in Panay Island.
One highlight of the military exercise is the joint rapid reaction force.
“We’ll be using various platforms, alternative platforms carrying troops from the mainland from GHQ Manila, the troops combined with Filipino soldiers and U.S. sailors and other U.S. marines, they will be moving from Manila towards Panay Island, in the central part of Visayas,” said Exercise Directorate Headquarters PIO Captain Celeste Frank Sayson.
AFP will also be utilizing two FA-50 supersonic fighter jets and other warplanes. Around 55 airplanes and five warships from the U.S. will arrive in the Philippines to join the military exercises.
AFP once again reiterated that the bilateral military exercise is not connected with the West Philippine Sea territorial dispute as it is done yearly as part of the mutual defense treaty between Philippines and America.
“These exercises have nothing to do with the emerging threat or what is emerging in the western part of the country, or the West Philippine Sea. This is the 32nd iteration. We’ve been doing these exercises every year so we would like to make it clear that this is just any other exercises,” Sayson said.
(ROSALIE COZ / UNTV News)
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