THE Philippines and the United States have launched army-to-army exercises, with a focus on enhancing the South-East Asian nation’s ability to protect and defend its territory from external threats.
The drills come on the heels of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s decision last month to expand the United States’ access to his country’s military bases.
More than 3,000 Filipino and US soldiers will participate in the three-week long annual exercises called Salaknib, which involve multiple small-arms live-fire exercises, artillery and mortar live-fire events, and construction projects.
“The drill scenarios would involve the defence of the Philippine archipelago from potential foreign aggressors,” Philippines Army Chief Lt-Gen Romeo Brawner told reporters following the opening ceremony yesterday.
“Since this is an army-to-army exercise, we will focus on defence operations such as air defence and also our defence from the shorelines,” he added.
The majority of activities will take place at Fort Magsaysay, the Philippines’ largest military camp, and one of the five existing sites the United States has access to under its Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement with Manila.
Under the agreement, the United States can use the bases for joint training, pre-positioning of equipment and building of facilities such as runways, fuel storage and military housing, but not to maintain a permanent presence.
The Philippines has yet to disclose the additional bases to which the United States will have access, but a former military chief has said they include bases on the island of Luzon, facing north towards Taiwan, and on Palawan in the southwest, near the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. — Reuters
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