Why Visayas needs ‘Balikatan’ more than ever

From the Manila Bulletin (May 3): Why Visayas needs ‘Balikatan’ more than ever

Camp Lapu-Lapu, Cebu City — More than ever, members of the military’s Central Command (Centcom) are seeing the importance of the ongoing Philippines-United States “Balikatan” Exercises 2014 (BK14) as the 15-day (April 29-May13) activity focuses on humanitarian assistance and disaster response training.

 

Representatives from Hawaii National Guard are also joining the event to share and discuss their expertise, barely half a year after one of the world’s worst natural disasters named “Yolanda (Haiyan)” barreled through the Visayas.

The training involves the conduct of search and rescue operations; confined space rescue operations; rope rescue operations; lifting and hauling operations; and casualty extraction which complements the first Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) conducted last March.

About 151 participants are joining the activities which include representatives from the Naval Forces Central, 2nd Air Division (2AD) of the Philippine Air Force and other line units of Centcom.

Civilian USAR teams like the Emergency Response Unit Foundation (ERUF), the Philippine Red Cross- Cebu Chapter, Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, Cebu Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, Bohol’s Telephone and Radio System Integrated Emergency Response, Office of Civil Defense were also among the participants in the training program.

“The classroom exercise will enable participants to share their expertise and experiences in dealing with natural disasters and draw strategies on how to address them,” said Brig. Gen. Romeo Labador of Centcom during the opening ceremony of the event.

He added that the command post, table-top and field training in the next few days will mainly focus on humanitarian assistance and disaster response training which also seeks to promote interoperability and readiness between the AFP and the US Pacific Command.

“This is very fitting given what seemed to be insurmountable odds our nation had experienced with the recent sting of major disasters that happened last year,” he further said.

Labador also cited that the joint and combined training conducted in the past Balikatan exercises, coupled with the resiliency of the Filipinos and the selfless commitment of foreign support, particularly from the Unites States helped the country overcome the challenges left by recent disasters.

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