5,700 US troops coming for war exercises in Luzon

Some 5,700 American military personnel will join Filipino troops this month in major war drills, including live-fire exercises, amphibious landings and ship interdictions, US and Philippine military officials said yesterday.

Unlike recent training in Mindanao, the new joint exercises will not be aimed primarily at battling terrorism but focus on routine drills to enhance both forces’ capabilities to operate together, US Marine Capt. Burrell Parmer said.

The ground, air and sea maneuvers, called "Talon Vision" and Amphibious Landing Exercise, will be held from Oct. 16 to 31 in military camps and areas in Luzon and Palawan, officials said.

US troops also plan humanitarian projects, including school construction and medical missions.

Participants will train in interdicting, boarding and searching vessels suspected of being used by terrorists and criminals, and about 1,000 Filipino troops will get the opportunity to use America’s high-tech military equipment, Philippine Marines spokesman Lt. Col. Ariel Caculitan said.

"We conduct exercises to strengthen our ties and strengthen our capabilities," Parmer said.

The US troops will come from the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade based on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa, and will include sailors from the Essex Expeditionary Strike Group in Sasebo, Japan.

An initial group of 500 Americans was scheduled to arrive last night at the Subic Bay free port in Zambales on board the WestPac Express, Parmer said.

The official opening of the military exercises will be held on Oct. 15 at the Philippine Marine headquarters at Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City.

About 400 Marines will be withdrawn from Jolo, Sulu — where they have been helping in a massive manhunt for the Abu Sayyaf bandits and Indonesian militants — to join the exercises, Caculitan said.

Since 2002, American troops have trained and armed Filipino soldiers battling the Abu Sayyaf in Mindanao, which has become a crucial front in the US-led campaign against terrorism due to the reported presence of terror training camps run by Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a militant group blamed for several deadly bombings in Southeast Asia.

The US training is credited with helping neutralize the Abu Sayyaf in the south, but has also been tainted by a rape scandal involving four US Marines who joined counterterrorism drills last year. — Jaime Laude, Ric Sapnu, AP