Sun.Star: Cagayan de Oro, Bukidnon execs oppose RP-US war games

Sun.Star: CAGAYAN DE ORO -- Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Constantino Jaraula and Bukidnon Governor Jose Miguel Zubiri said Wednesday they would oppose any plan by the Philippine military and US Special Forces to conduct war games in their jurisdictions. The two officials said they would only allow US soldiers to stay if they only conduct medical and humanitarian missions in Cagayan de Oro and Bukidnon. "It should purely be civic actions and infrastructure developments," Zubiri told Sunstar Cagayan de Oro. For his part, Jaraula said he will not be comfortable at the sight of having US and Filipino soldiers displaying their military firearms to the residents. "It will be a great relief it they say they will build bridges or construct schools here," Jaraula said. "But it will be a big no if they're going to conduct war exercises here," he added. The Armed Forces of the Philippines said teams of the elite US counter-terror unit called Special Forces will start arriving in Cagayan de Oro on February 18 to participate in the RP-US Balanced Piston war exercises. - Sun.Star