US trims Balikatan troops, sends GIs to relief missions in Japan

ANGELES CITY, Philippines—The United States military has reduced the number of its troops participating in the large-scale war games Balikatan, shifting others to relief efforts in areas devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the US Embassy said in a statement released on Monday, a day before the start of the exercises.

Balikatan exercises would “take place as scheduled despite a reduction in the number of participating US troops, many of whom are in Japan to assist in relief efforts there in the wake of the recent earthquake and tsunami,” the statement said.

It did not say how many US soldiers are in the country to join exercises by army and naval units in Clark in Pampanga, Subic in Zambales, Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, O’Donnel Firing Range in Tarlac and Sangley Point in Cavite. The American soldiers participating in the exercises are based in a US military base in Okinawa, Japan.

Balikatan involved a total of 10,000 troops from the Philippines and US. It is the biggest joint exercise between the two governments since the resumption of military exercises between the Philippines and US in 1999 under the Visiting Forces Agreement.

The US Embassy said fewer combined field training will be held this year. But construction and free medical, dental and veterinary missions, and civic actions are being done on schedule since early March,

Five barangays in Tarlac and Zambales will each have a new school building before Balikatan ends on April 15.

Joint exercises are held to “maintain the high level of readiness and interoperability of the two countries’ troops in responding to natural disasters and other crises that threaten public health and safety,” the US Embassy statement said.