UNDER OBAMA

Change unlikely in RP-US ties--officer
By Ephraim Aguilar, Roy Gersalia
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 17:37:00 01/08/2009
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/topstories/topstories/view/20090108-182207/Change-unlikely-in-RP-US-ties--officer

LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines--(UPDATE) While no one can be sure at this point how a Barack Obama presidency will affect ties between the Philippines and United States, a US Navy officer said the time-tested “good relations” between the two countries is not likely to change.

Captain Kelly Schmader, commander of the 30th Naval Construction Regiment, said proof of this are the 2009 Balikatan (shoulder-to-shoulder) exercises, which will be held in three Bicol provinces this April.

Schmader was in Bicol Thursday for the final stages of surveying and planning of the joint US-RP military exercises, now in their 14th year in the country.

“My commander-in-chief is President [George W.] Bush. Nobody knows at this point what might happen beyond his administration. But personally, I do not expect that the good RP-US ties will change,” Schmader said at a press conference.

He stressed that the Balikatan exercises are part of a mutual defense treaty between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the US.

Schmader said around 400 American doctors, engineers, and nurses, predominantly military, will join the month-long exercises to provide humanitarian aid to depressed areas in the provinces of Albay, Masbate, and Sorsogon.

These provinces are considered hotbeds of the communist insurgency in the Bicol region. But Colonel Ariel Bernardo, commander of the Philippine Army's 901st Infantry Brigade, said there will be no war games in the Bicol Balikatan.

“The Bicol Balikatan shall only comprise humanitarian projects in the form of medical missions and engineering works,” Bernardo said.

Greg Bañares, spokesperson of the rebel National Democratic (NDF) Front in Bicol, warned in a press statement that US troops might intervene in armed battles between government troops and communist guerrillas.

He also warned that the “fake” humanitarian missions could be used to survey the country's rich lands and seas or spy on the revolutionary movement.

Bernardo brushed off these accusations, saying the aims of the exercises are peace and development.

“We are pouring in development projects on depressed communities, since we recognize poverty as the root cause of insurgency,” Bernardo said.

He added that, in 1995, insurgency had been reduced to a manageable level in Bicol, but people went back to rebellion because of poverty.

“We do not want that mistake to happen again,” Bernardo said.

The engineering works -- construction of roads and water facilities -- will begin in the first week of April and medical missions in the middle of the same month.

Schmader, also an engineer, said all materials for the engineering works will be acquired locally to boost the economy.

None of the American and Filipino Army officers have been specific about the source and total amount of funds to be used for the 2009 Balikatan despite direct questions by the media.

But Shchmader said the funds will be shared by both countries. He estimated the engineering works alone to cost around US$450,000.

In Sorsogon on Wednesday, US soldiers led by Schmader conducted a dialogue with Sorsogon Governor Sally Lee and Juban town Mayor Maritess Guab-Fragata on the joint exercises to be held in the Pacific Board area near Albay and Sorsogon provinces.

Last year, Balikatan was held in the war-torn Mindanao region. Its primary objective is to improve the interoperability of both forces for mutual defense.