Palace, military welcome resumption of war games

By Joel Guinto, Lira Dalangin-Fernandez
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 07:13pm (Mla time) 01/02/2007

(2ND UPDATE) PALACE and military officials welcomed the United States decision to proceed with large-scale military exercises in the Philippines following the transfer to US custody of a convicted American Marine, officials said Tuesday.

Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said Malacañang sees the resumption of war games as a welcome development, stressing the “cancellation would adversely affect the operational capability” of the Philippine military and would “negatively impact in common fight against terror and poverty."

“We welcome the resumption of the Balikatan,” Armed Forces of the Philippines public information officer Lieutenant Colonel Bartolome Bacarro told INQUIRER.net shortly after the US embassy announced the resumption of the war games.

”There will be no more opportunities lost in training and interoperability," Bacarro said.

US embassy spokesman Matthew Lussenhop on Tuesday told INQUIRER.net that Balikatan, the largest joint military exercise between American and Filipino troops held in the Philippines each year and involving as many as 5,000 American soldiers, will push through although perhaps not in February as earlier scheduled.

The United States on December 22 called off the war games, citing as reason the continued detention of Lance Corporal Daniel Smith at the Makati City jail. A week later, Smith, who was found guilty of raping a Filipino woman, was handed over to the custody of the US embassy on orders of the Philippine government.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo earlier said the government had to take action "in order to forestall the further deterioration in our strategic relationship with the United States."

The Philippines has one of the most poorly-equipped armed forces in the region and is already hard-pressed battling a 7,100-strong communist insurgency as well as Muslim extremist groups like the Abu Sayyaf.

It has been hoping for US aid to upgrade its armed forces.

Bacarro said the continuation of the large-scale war games “will be beneficial to the AFP because of the exchange in training.”

Asked if the Philippine government was right in giving up custody of Smith, Bacarro said: "I will not say that."

Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno told a news conference Tuesday that the government sided with Washington in the custody dispute and had no choice but to hand Smith over because it had to respect a bilateral military pact.

"We are telling the world that we are complying with our treaty obligations," Puno said.

A provision in the Visiting Forces Agreement, which governs the conduct of US troops in the Philippines, states that any accused American serviceman shall remain in US custody until all judicial proceedings are exhausted.

Bacarro said the Philippine and US militaries share a “symbiotic” relationship under the Balikatan. He said that while local troops are trained on the use of new equipment, the Americans are trained on guerilla tactics.

“They [US troops] also learn from us. They learn jungle survival and guerilla warfare,” he said.

With The Associated Press

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