Photo By Candice Reyes
Tempo, Sunday, April 3, 2011
Marines on board a Humvee are among those participating in this year's Balikatan military exercises with American Soldiers from April 5 to 15 in various parts of the country.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Show of Force
Photo By Luzviminda Lacbo
The Manila Times, Saturday, April 2, 2011
Members of the Philippine Marines get ready with their equipment ahead of the coming Balikatan 2011 military exercises with their counterparts from the United States.
Off to war exercises
By Ey Acasio
Manila Standard Today, Saturday, April 2, 2011
Philippine Marines march towards the Philippine Navy headquarters in Manila for their deployment in the annual Balikatan joint military exercise this year in Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog regions. t least 6,000 US troops are expected to be in the country this month for the war exercises to join the 2,000 Filipino troops for the 10-day exercise. This year's exercise include a "unilateral planning exercise" at the Armed Forces' Western Command headquarters in Puerto Princesa City.
Marines in Japan to skip Philippine drills
The Associated Press, Sunday, April 03, 2011
MANILA, Philippines — About 3,000 Marines will not join annual war exercises in the Philippines starting this week because they are helping with relief work in quake- and tsunami-devastated Japan, officials said Sunday.
Philippine military spokesman Maj. Enrico Ileto said civic missions such as school construction will proceed as planned during the April 5-15 exercises, but some field exercises would be scaled back because of the U.S. relief activities in northeastern Japan.
Army Maj. Tage Rainsford said some Navy ships have also been deployed to Japan and would not join the Philippine exercises, which include joint training for possible natural disasters.
“They ended up in a real-world situation,” Rainsford told The Associated Press.
About 6,000 Americans, along with 2,000 Filipino troops, were originally slated to join the exercises, called Balikatan or “shoulder-to-shoulder.” The longtime military allies signed a 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty and later forged an agreement allowing U.S. ship visits and American troops to join war maneuvers in the country.
About 500 American troops have been separately providing training, weapons and intelligence since 2002 to Filipino troops battling al-Qaida-linked militants in the country’s south but they are barred from combat by the Philippine Constitution.
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