MANILA, Feb 18, 2008 (AFP) — Several thousand US troops began arriving in the southern Philippines on Monday to take part in joint military exercises aimed at community building rather than warfare.
The annual Balikatan (shoulder-to-shoulder) exercises will involve some 6,000 US and 2,000 Filipino troops taking part in medical missions, building roads, artesian wells and day care centres.
Some of the exercises will be held in the southern region of Mindanao, where the US government is providing economic aid as well as military training to Filipino troops fighting Islamic militants whose support has been fuelled by poverty and underdevelopment.
Although armed, the US troops will be restricted from joining combat patrols in the southern islands of Basilan and Jolo where Philippine troops have been fighting members of the Muslim militant Abu Sayyaf group.
"It's a wonderful opportunity to reaffirm a great partnership that's been going on so many years between our militaries and our people," US ambassador Kristie Kenney told reporters at the launching ceremony at the armed forces headquarters in Manila.
She said the two armies would train on "how to respond to humanitarian disasters."
Philippine armed forces chief of staff General Hermogenes Esperon said the annual exercises were "always timely if only to maintain our inter-operability and proficiency."
He said that since the annual manoeveres began in 1991, "the emphasis has shifted also to humanitarian assistance."
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