Strict security for Filipino, American troops in joint military exercise
Strict security measures have been implemented on American and Filipino troops engaged in a joint military exercise in Capiz as communist rebels directed its forces to intensify armed attacks in areas where the exercises are being held.
Capt. Renante Besa, acting public information officer of the Army's 3rdInfantry Division (3ID), said American troops are prohibited from leaving their barracks and the training area without the knowledge and permission of the training committee.
“The security guidelines and policies are in place. We are always ready with or without expressed threats from the enemy,” Besa said in a telephone interview on Thursday.
The Communist Party of the Philippines last week directed its armed wing, the New People's Army (NPA) in Panay and Bicol to intensify offensives to oppose joint military exercises in these areas.
In an e-mailed statement, the CPP also condemned the 25-day US-RP joint military exercises at Camp Macario Peralta in Jamindan town in Capiz.
“The military exercise is an instrument of the US in violating Philippine sovereignty and keeping a tight leash on the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). In training of puppet troops for inter-interoperability with its armed forces and providing war materiél to the puppet army, the US military aims paves the way for increased intervention in the local armed conflict,” the CPP, which has been waging a Maoist-inspired guerrilla war for 30 years, said in its statement.
The “Balance Piston 09-1” began on Monday at Camp Macario Peralta, the 3ID headquarters, and will last until February 20.
The exercises involve 141 personnel of the 3ID and 31 US soldiers, mostly trainers. It consists of training exercises to be held within the training area of the military camp and 11 training activities including civic-military programs among residents in surrounding barangays.
The 3ID earlier said that the joint military exercises aim to develop the skills of its personnel and enhance the interoperability of US and Filipino troops.
But the CPP said that the exercises and the one planned in Bicol in April “signal stepped-up US military intervention and direct involvement of US troops in the AFP's counterrevolutionary war against the New People's Army (NPA).”
It said the exercises are being conducted in these areas “to pave the way for the US to gain more access to the NPA’s areas of operation and thus be able to give more advice in the field and increasingly participate in direct and indirect intelligence, combat and other military operations against the revolutionary forces.”
Capiz including surrounding villages of the training site are among the areas where NPA rebels are active.
The CPP directed NPA units, particularly those in Bicol and Panay, to “intensify tactical offensives in their respective areas of operation in mockery of the US-RP joint military exercises and to prevent US troops from strengthening their foothold in these areas.”
Besa said government troops have already secured the training site and surrounding areas even before the exercises. This is being complimented by continued intelligence-gathering operations.