Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Manila Times
October 17, 2008
LEGAZPI CITY--From the war-torn jungle of Mindanao region the RP-US Balikatan military exercises could possibly be moved to the Bicol Peninsula early next year, a top military intelligence official of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) told The Manila Times.
Bicol region, considered by the military a rebel country would be an ideal venue for the US war games with their Filipino counterparts, said the official who requested not to be identified.
An advance group from the RP-US Balikatan visited the provinces of Albay, Sorsogon and Masbate over the weekend to familiarize themselves with the rugged terrain of the region Albay and Sorsogon are hot spots of insurgency considering that the Larangan Guerilla Fronts 77 and 78 operating in these two neighboring areas are the most influential among the 12 guerilla fronts that are based in the Bicol region.
Army Col. Ariel Bernardo, commanding officer of the Army’s 901st Infantry Brigade located in Daraga, Albay, confirmed the said site inspection.
However, Bernardo clarified that there would be no war games to be done in the region but purely humanitarian missions such as engineering civic action program, construction of school building, water system facilities and farm to market road construction including medical and dental mission component.
In 2006, the US Navy Seabees joined its AFP partners helped the typhoon-stricken communities in Bicol region, specifically the typhoon-ravaged Albay province after super Typhoon Reming battered the region on November 30, 2006, killing more than 1,000 people and leaving thousands of families homeless.
The civic action is part of the Pacific Partnership, a four month goodwill mission undertaken by the USS Peliliu (LHA 5) working with the Armed Forces of the Philippines to provide free health services for poor communities, construction of housing units, school buildings, water facilities, hospitals and delivered clothes, food, medical and school supplies and toys for children.
Major Gen. Arsenio Arugay, former commanding officer of the Army’s 901st Infantry Brigade and subsequently the commanding general of the 9th Infantry Division based in Camarines Sur and now chief of the NCRPO had earlier recommended to Gen. Norberto Adan that the areas of Albay and Sorsogon would be ideal for RP-US Balikatan exercises because of its rugged terrain and very strategic location for air, land and sea military exercises.
--Rhaydz B. Barcia
October 17, 2008
LEGAZPI CITY--From the war-torn jungle of Mindanao region the RP-US Balikatan military exercises could possibly be moved to the Bicol Peninsula early next year, a top military intelligence official of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) told The Manila Times.
Bicol region, considered by the military a rebel country would be an ideal venue for the US war games with their Filipino counterparts, said the official who requested not to be identified.
An advance group from the RP-US Balikatan visited the provinces of Albay, Sorsogon and Masbate over the weekend to familiarize themselves with the rugged terrain of the region Albay and Sorsogon are hot spots of insurgency considering that the Larangan Guerilla Fronts 77 and 78 operating in these two neighboring areas are the most influential among the 12 guerilla fronts that are based in the Bicol region.
Army Col. Ariel Bernardo, commanding officer of the Army’s 901st Infantry Brigade located in Daraga, Albay, confirmed the said site inspection.
However, Bernardo clarified that there would be no war games to be done in the region but purely humanitarian missions such as engineering civic action program, construction of school building, water system facilities and farm to market road construction including medical and dental mission component.
In 2006, the US Navy Seabees joined its AFP partners helped the typhoon-stricken communities in Bicol region, specifically the typhoon-ravaged Albay province after super Typhoon Reming battered the region on November 30, 2006, killing more than 1,000 people and leaving thousands of families homeless.
The civic action is part of the Pacific Partnership, a four month goodwill mission undertaken by the USS Peliliu (LHA 5) working with the Armed Forces of the Philippines to provide free health services for poor communities, construction of housing units, school buildings, water facilities, hospitals and delivered clothes, food, medical and school supplies and toys for children.
Major Gen. Arsenio Arugay, former commanding officer of the Army’s 901st Infantry Brigade and subsequently the commanding general of the 9th Infantry Division based in Camarines Sur and now chief of the NCRPO had earlier recommended to Gen. Norberto Adan that the areas of Albay and Sorsogon would be ideal for RP-US Balikatan exercises because of its rugged terrain and very strategic location for air, land and sea military exercises.
--Rhaydz B. Barcia