RP-US ‘Balikatan’ goes to Bicol; no war games

By Ephraim Aguilar and Roy Gersalia
Inquirer Southern Luzon

LEGAZPI CITY—WHILE NO ONE CAN predict how a Barack Obama presidency will affect ties between the Philippines and the United States, a US Navy officer thinks the time-tested “good relations” are not likely to change.

Proof of this, according to Capt. Kelly Schmader, commander of the 30th Naval Construction Regiment, is the 2009 RP-US Balikatan military exercises that will be held in three Bicol provinces—Albay, Masbate and Sorsogon—in April.

Schmader visited the Bicol region yesterday to see to the final stages of surveying and planning for the Balikatan (meaning “shoulder to shoulder”), which is now on its 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.

The Balikatan is part of the mutual defense treaty between the Philippines and the United States, he pointed out.

In Sorsogon on Wednesday, Schmader and 30 other US soldiers had a three-hour dialogue with Sorsogon Gov. Sally Lee and Juban Mayor Maritess Guab-Fragata to formalize arrangements for the exercises to be held in the Pacific Board area near Albay and Sorsogon.

The deployment of an engineering battalion and medical mission groups was among the points discussed.

Purely humanitarian

Last year’s Balikatan was held in Mindanao. Its primary objective was to improve the “interoperability” of the two countries’ armed forces for mutual defense.

This time, some 400 American doctors, engineers and nurses, predominantly belonging to the military, will join the monthlong exercises to provide humanitarian aid to depressed areas in Albay, Masbate and Sorsogon, Schmader said.

These provinces are considered hotbeds of communist insurgency in the Bicol region. But Col. Ariel Bernardo, commander of the Philippine Army’s 901st Infantry Brigade, said there would be no war games in the coming exercises.

Intervention suspected

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

But Greg Bañares, spokesperson of the communist-led National Democratic Front in Bicol, said in a press statement that the US soldiers might intervene in the armed battles between government troops and New People’s Army guerrillas.

He also warned that the “fake” humanitarian missions could be used to survey the Philippines’ rich lands and seas or to spy on revolutionary movements.

Bernardo dismissed these accusations, saying the aims of the exercises were peace and development.

“We are [conducting] development projects in depressed communities because we recognize poverty as the root cause of the insurgency,” he said.

Bernardo said the insurgency in Bicol was reduced to a manageable level in 1995 but eventually saw a resurgence because of poverty.

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

Local materials

Engineering work (involving the construction of roads and water facilities) and the medical missions are scheduled to begin in the first and second weeks of April, respectively.

Schmader, himself an engineer, said all materials for the engineering work would be acquired locally in order to boost local economies.

Neither the American and Filipino military officials specified the costs and funding source of the 2009 Balikatan despite direct questions from reporters.

But Schmader said the costs would be shared by the countries. He estimated the engineering work to cost around $450,000.