The three-week humanitarian mission of the joint forces of the United States Marine Corps (USMC) and the Naval Forces for Southern Luzon (Navforsol) based in this city ended Thursday with the turning over of three rehabilitated classrooms in the
Some 1,408 elementary pupils packed up like sardines in a limited school structure will be benefited by the project.
The repair of the three classrooms was part of the PHL-US Amphibious Landing Humanitarian Exercise wherein soldiers from USMC based in
Analiza M. Ricamunda, principal of the
Ricamunda said the school needs at least five to six more classrooms to accommodate the ballooning number of its schoolchildren.
Navy Commodore Manuel Natalio A. Abinuman, Navforsol commanding general, also expressed gratitude to the members of the USMC led by Brig. Gen. Paul J. Kennedy, commanding general of the USMC 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, for the joint effort and untiring symbol of friendship.
“What you have built is not only a school building but also the education of our children and an enduring symbol of friendship, a recognition of our people and our two countries which will give us a legacy for our present and future generations,” Abinuman said.
He said the people of Albay and
“We hope that when you go back to your unit, you will bring home good memories of our friendship, cooperation and experiences that you shared with our people,” Abinuman added.
Kennedy said the PHL-US bond has a rich history of bilateral training and has consistently been improving interoperability and readiness so that when the time comes they can respond well in times of natural disaster.
“These friendships and memories are truly what PHIBLEX 14 is all about: coming together with our allies to better the community and have fun along the way. Humanitarian and civic assistance projects such as these allow our military forces to learn from each other, train side by side, and improve our interoperability and readiness,” he added.
“To both Filipino and American personnel, I’d like to congratulate you and thank you for a job well done. You were given an incredible opportunity that very few of your peers enjoy and you succeeded beyond expectations. You took full advantage of the opportunity to work together and make friends with someone from a different country. Thank you for your hard work and dedication to duty during these HCA projects,” the USMC officer said.
According to Kennedy, the accomplishments made during this phase of PHIBLEX 14 showcase the enduring PHL-US relationship and commitment to mutual security as well as long-time partnership.
“Everything that was accomplished during this period of humanitarian mission proves that our alliance continues to grow and remains a key source of stability and security in the Asia-Pacific region,” he stressed.
For three weeks of the humanitarian mission conducted by the USMC soldiers and their Filipino counterparts, they rebuilt the dilapidated classrooms of the
In Barangay Bigaa, USMC and AFP medics provided free medical and dental assistance wherein 3,167 individuals benefited.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=575135
This is another in a long list of positive outcomes of the RP-US military-to-military relationship. Of course the America haters in the myriad Maoist CPP front organizations never mention any of the positives of the military relationship with the Americans. It's not part of their anti-American agenda.
ReplyDeleteI would contrast the positive construction of schools and the provision of medical services by RP-US forces with the largely destructive conduct of the New People's Army (NPA), the military wing of the CPP. One rarely reads anything positive about the NPA these days. So what is the NPA doing with the millions of pesos that they are extorting form politicians and business? Are they building roads and schools? How about providing Phil Health medical cards for poor peasants? Nope! I guess the money is being used to line the pockets of local CPP/NPA leaders and support the life style of Joma Sison and his cohorts in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Who knows? There is no transparency or accountability in insurgent affairs, so nobody knows where the money is going. But it sure doesn't look like ordinary Filipinos have benefited from the NPA's financial windfalls. This is certainly curious for an organization that purports to be "pro-people."