The joint Philippine-US Amphibious Landing Exercises (Phiblex 13) has chosen Albay anew for its humanitarian and civic action mission..
The mission’s civic action activities will include repairs of typhoon-damaged school buildings and health services for thousands of indigent villagers. The team has physicians, dentists and nurses and stocks of medical supplies.
The civic and humanitarian mission will last for ten days – from September 25 to October 10. This will be the fourth time Albay will benefit from the same humanitarian mission, having been visited by the USS Peleliu in 2007, the RP-US Balikatan in 2009, and US Pacific Angel in 2010.
Governor Joey Salceda said Albay has been chosen by the mission in recognition of its effective disaster risk and reduction management (DRRM) and climate change adaptation (CCA) initiatives, for which reason the United Nations has made it its global model.
The Phiblex 2013 team, composed of 36 members of the US Marine Corps led by Major Grace Janosek, arrived here last Sunday (Sept. 22) on board a US Marine Corps C-130 transport aircraft from its base in Okinawa, Japan.
They will be joined by an equal number of personnel from the Naval Forces Southern Luzon (Navforsol) based in this city, for the civic action activities in the barangays of Taysan, Victory Village and Bigaa in Legazpi City, among others.
Salceda said the humanitarian mission serves to further improve bilateral cooperation between the Philippines and the US, whose military personnel exchange experiences on matters concerning defense concerns and humanitarian services.
As one of the most disaster prone areas in the country, Albay has many success stories to share on DRRM and CCA. It has in fact institutionalized civil-military cooperation in disaster preparedness and response through its disaster response group, Team Albay.
Salceda said the Phiblex 13 humanitarian mission aims to further enhance interoperability, increase readiness, and enhance the ability to respond to natural disasters and related contingencies, aside from helping improve local infrastructure and quality of life.
The joint Philippine-US Marine Corps humanitarian mission will undertake three kinds of activities -- Engineering Civic Action Program (EnCAP), Humanitarian Community Assistance (HCA) and Cooperative Health Engagements (CHE).
Maj. Janosek’s group is a part of a larger U.S. Marines contingent that arrived in Clark, Pampanga recently for the U.S.-Philippines bilateral Phiblex 2013 exercises.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=568887
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