Philippines, US kick off largest-ever Balikatan Exercise

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the United States (US) military kicked off on Monday its largest-ever joint military exercise dubbed the 37th Balikatan Exercise.

Joined by around 9,000 military personnel, AFP chief General Andres Centino said the exercise would strengthen the “interoperability” of the two countries’ armed forces and would “decisively” contribute to the peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.

“The annual Philippines-United States Balikatan exercise, one of the long-standing mutual engagements between our two countries has paved the way for enhanced cooperation, collaboration, and mutual commitment all aimed at promoting collective security,” Centino said during his speech at the opening of 2022 Philippine-US Balikatan.

“This year's event is indeed remarkable as we are fortunate to enforce a full implementation of our exercise with approximately 8,900 participants and observers from various armed forces,” he said.

The opening ceremony was held at the Philippine military headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo.

A total of 3,800 AFP members and 5,100 US military personnel will take part in the joint military exercise slated for March 28 to April 8 —  the largest iteration in the annual event since the coronavirus outbreak in the country in 2020.

Filipino and US soldiers will train together in areas such as maritime security, amphibious operations, live-fire training, urban operations, aviation operations, counterterrorism, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

The said activities would be conducted in Northern Luzon under the supervision of the Armed Forces Northern Luzon Command (NolCom).

According to Centino, Balikatan 2022 shows the Philippines’s “strong relations” with its allies and its continued commitment to the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) even despite the looming change in administration due to the upcoming polls.

Signed in 1951, the MDT states that Manila and Washington would come to each other’s defense in case of an attack by a foreign state.

“We are having elections this year and definitely, there will be a change in administration. Whoever these are, these are treaties that we have with our counterparts, with the United States. So even with the changes in leadership, changes in the administration, the treaty stays,” he said.

Meanwhile, Major General Jay Bargeron, US exercise director and commanding general of the US military’s 3rd Marine Division clarified the exercise is not a “show of force” in the region but is targeted to improve the capabilities of both of the country’s military arms.

“It’s aimed at improving our security and defensive capabilities and our readiness to respond to any crisis anywhere and I would also say that its design to enhance our interoperability, strengthen cooperation across the board, and to contribute of course to peace and stability in the region,” he said.

Apart from Centino and Bargeron, US Embassy Chargé d'Affaires, Heather Variava, Defense Undersecretary Cardozo Luna; Major General Charlton Sean M Gaerlan and Philippine Exercise Director and Commander of AFP Education, Training and Doctrines Command also attended the event. — RSJ, GMA News