Philippine, US troops hold seaside war drill in BARMM

DATU BLAH SINSUAT, Maguindanao del Norte — Filipino and American soldiers held an amphibious sea-to-shore anti-terror assault drill and an artillery fire exercise in a seaside village in this town on Wednesday, April 9, in the presence of local officials from Bangsamoro towns around.

The activity, something spectacular for residents of Datu Blah Sinsuat, the fishing capital of Maguindanao del Norte and touted as the most peaceful town in the province, was part of the Marine Exercise 2025 of the Philippine and United States governments.

The Marine Exercise 2025, organized by the Philippine Marine Corps and its US counterpart and launched in the upland Barira town in Maguindanao del Norte almost two weeks ago, also involves the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, the Philippine Coast Guard and the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region.

American and Filipino soldiers used small but high-speed watercraft in their beachfront combat drill, capped off with a simulated presence of terrorists at the shores of Barangay Penansaran, which is home to mixed Maguindanaon and ethnic non-Muslim Teduray villagers.

Datu Blah Sinsuat is a bastion of the Moro National Liberation Front that forged a peace pact with the national government on Sept. 2, 1996. Leaders of the MNLF and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front are cooperating in managing different agencies under the now five-year BARMM regional government. 

Also present in the event at Barangay Penansaran were ranking officials of the Western Mindanao Command led by its commander. Army Lt. Gen. Antonio Nafarrete, Rear Admiral Francisco Tagamolila Jr. of the Naval Forces Western Mindanao and Brig. Gen. Hubert Acierto, who is at the helm of the Philippine Army Artillery Regiment.

“We are grateful to the municipal government of Datu Blah Sinsuat and its local chief executive for helping push this activity forward,” Nafarrete said, referring to Mayor Marshall Sinsuat, the chairperson of their multi-sector Municipal Peace and Order Council.

Nafarrete said the commander of the Philippine Navy’s 1st Marine Brigade, Brig. Gen. Romulo Quemado, and Army Major Gen. Donald Gumiran of the 6th Infantry Division cooperated in helping oversee the exercise.

The 6th ID has operational control over units of the Philippine Marine Corps securing Maguindanao del Norte’s Barira, Matanog, Parang, Sultan Kudarat, Sultan Mastura, Datu Odin Sinsuat and Datu Blah municipalities.

The lawyer-entrepreneur Ronald Hallid Torres, chairman of the Bangsamoro Business Council, said he and all members of their bloc were elated with the conduct of the joint Philippine-US combat drills in Maguindanao del Norte, which for them were essential in correcting notions that the province is not peaceful.

“It is our belief that these American servicemen would not come here and engage in this kind of joint military exercises if Maguindanao del Norte is not peaceful,” Torres said.

The regional business council led by Torres has members in the business communities in BARMM’s Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, Lanao del Sur, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi provinces and the cities of Lamitan, Marawi and Cotabato.