Annual Balikatan kicks off in Palawan

From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 29): Annual Balikatan kicks off in Palawan

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the U.S. Armed Forces will conduct the 30th Philippines-US Balikatan Exercises in May in various venues, including Palawan.

Exercise Balikatan is an annual bilateral combined training initiated by the governments of the Philippines and the United States.

The official opening ceremony of the exercise this year will be held in Manila on May 5, and will formally close on May 16, Western Command (WESCOM) spokesperson Lt. Cherryl Tindog told the Philippine News Agency (PNA).

Despite the bilateral exercise still opening next month, Tindog said about a platoon of U.S. troops has already started arriving in Puerto Princesa for a “shoulder-to-shoulder” training with Filipino soldiers from the WESCOM starting April 30 in a series of subject matter exchanges and lectures on various areas of expertise, such as civil military affairs, humanitarian assistance, disaster response, and others.

This year’s Balikatan will focus on maritime security, humanitarian assistance and disaster response (HADR), and humanitarian civil assistance (HCA). On May 6, the staff planning exercises will happen at Camp Aguinaldo and at the headquarters of the WESCOM.

Tindog added that this year’s exercises is structured to further develop the AFP in crisis-action planning, enhancing ability to effectively conduct counter-terrorism operations, and promote inter-operability with the U.S. Armed Forces.

The annual shoulder-to-shoulder exercise is consistent with the Mutual Defense Treaty and Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the U.S. and the Philippines, which aim to continue mutual commitment to train, share information and provide support to each other.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=638909