Reds try to spoil US Balikatan exercises, fires indiscriminately in Calinog
Friendly military exercises dubbed “Balikatan” between visiting American troops and local counterparts in the Philippine Army (PA) are facing some disturbances from seeming “gatecrashers.”
This, as villagers reported to authorities yesterday series of gunshots fired and heard in the hinterland area of Calinog, Iloilo.
Captain Lowen Gil Marquez confirmed the incident to The News Today (TNT) saying the culprits are communist terrorists New People’s Army (NPA).
“Terrorist Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) – National Democratic Front (NDF) – NPA were the ones behind the indiscriminate firing to innocent masses between the boundary barangays of Calinog, Iloilo and Tapaz, Capiz. They are doing this in an attempt to insult the Balikatan exercises. First set of shots were fired about 8 a.m. yesterday,” Marquez told TNT.
Captain Marquez is commanding officer of the 3rd Civil Relations Unit of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
Government troops were immediately sent to the area to secure the villagers as the NPAs fled to unknown direction.
The Balikatan here is a 25-day joint military exercise that began last week inside a military reservation in Capiz.
Officially termed “The RP-US “Balance Piston 09-1,” the troops have until February 20th inside Jamindan’s Camp Macario B. Peralta Jr.
A total of 141 government troops from the PA’s 3rd Infantry Division and 31 American soldiers are involved in the ‘Capiz Balikatan.’
In an Army news release, TNT gathered that training exercises involve 11 training activities including civic-military programs among residents near the military camp.
There will also be a “fire and maneuver training” aimed at enhancing operational capability of 3ID personnel. Such as also in focus is the improvement of “inter-operability” of the combined forces with Filipino troops given the chance to experience and learn modern military technology and weaponry.
Yet on top of it all, the exercise also seeks to “promote goodwill not only among the combined forces but among the populace in the area,” the Army press statement added.
The 3ID statement said the joint exercises in Capiz will be the second to be conducted in the Visayas since 1995. It said the division headquarters was chosen as the venue of the exercises because of its good training facilities and suitable training environment.