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By Al Jacinto, Correspondent
ZAMBOANGA CITY: Philippine and US troops are to
begin a new joint military training in the southern province of Sulu,
where Filipino authorities are fighting the Abu Sayyaf and Muslim
rebels.
“We are now preparing for the Balikatan 2008
and it would probably start in March,” Maj. Gen. Ruben Rafael,
commander of the Philippine antiterror Task Force Comet in Sulu,
told The Manila Times.
Balikatan, which means
“shoulder-to-shoulder,” is the codename of the joint antiterror
drill held each year since 2001.
Rafael did not say how many troops, aircraft and
vessels, would be involved in the training. American military and
embassy officials did not give any statement about the training, but
US Representative Adam Smith (D-WA) is in the Philippines to meet
with senior officials and review U.S. assistance programs.
Smith serves on the House Committee on Armed
Services, where he chairs the Subcommittee on Terrorism,
Unconventional Warfare and Capabilities. He also serves on the House
Foreign Affairs Committee.
It was unknown if Smith would visit hundreds of
US troops deployed in Zamboanga and Sulu. A similar training was
also held in Sulu in 2006 and since then the US has maintained
troops in the province.
The Balikatan demonstrates Washington’s
resolve to continue its commitment to train, advise and assist the
Philippine military to build a capacity to counter terrorism.
The Balikatan includes support for comprehensive
defense reform; security assistance modules for counter-terrorism
training; operations intelligence fusion; and aspects in education
programs, logistics, and engineering, equipment, and maintenance and
helicopter programs.
It will also enhance the skills and capabilities
of Filipino and American forces in combating terrorism and other
internal and external security threats. And improve interoperability
between RP and US forces through the exchange of training skills and
techniques.
The training is part of Washington’s security
assistance to the Philippines, a key US ally in Southeast Asia in
the so-called global war on terrorism.
But a recent scandal involving American soldiers
in Sulu province has sparked new protests and anti-US sentiments
from Muslim villagers and political activists. US troops in Sulu
ordered last month a hospital in Panamao town to close every night
and prevented medical personnel from treating patients after
sundown.
Dr. Silak Lakkian, head of the hospital, has
complained about how US troops meddled into their operations.
US soldiers also threatened to shoot anybody in
the hospital incase there is an attack by terrorists. American
soldiers have been in Sulu since 2006 to train local forces to hunt
members of the Abu Sayyaf group said to have links to al-Qaeda.
The meddling of US troops in local affairs drew
widespread criticism and protests from provincial leaders and
triggered calls from political activists in Manila for Congress and
Senate to hold an investigation into the incident. The US military
denied all accusations and blamed the local media for the bad
publicity.
The militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas
(KMP) called on Congress and the Senate to immediately launch a
thorough probe on the real role of US troops in Mindanao.
“We are calling on both Houses of Congress, to
call for respective investigations on the matter… We have to
uphold our sovereignty if not then foreigners will just trample it
under their feet,” Rafael Mariano, chairman of KMP and president
of the Anakpawis party-list group, said.
Communist rebels in the past have also accused
the United States of using the Balikatan to justify the presence of
American troops in the Philippines.
“This is nothing, but US military
interventionism’s standard doublespeak. As they have done in
the past, the US is using the ‘joint military exercises’ to
justify its military presence and induce conditions for higher
levels of intervention and eventual outright military aggression.”
“They intentionally let its troops become
targets of hostile fire and once hit, they unleash all their forces
and superior weaponry on the pretext of self-defense and launch
all-out aggression from then on,” said rebel spokesman Gregorio
Rosal.
Philippine military officials said the US troops
would not be involved in actual combat operation against terrorists
in the troubled region. They said the Constitution prohibits foreign
troops from participating in combat, but are allowed to defend
themselves from armed attacks.
Rafael said Filipino and US troops are active in
humanitarian activities in Sulu.
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