Despite twin PAF crashes, Balikatan 02-2 a success

Despite two crashes of Philippine Air Force aircraft, Philippine and US military officials rated this year’s "Balikatan 02-2" war games in Central Luzon as successful.

"Virtually at every level, from the soldier right up to the most senior officers, including myself, there has been significant appreciation of the operational expertise of our Philippine counterparts," said US marines Col. Brandon Kearney, co-director of Balikatan 02-2 which ends today.

"They (Filipino soldiers) are true professionals. Many have seen combat in the Philippines and they have related their experience to us," Kearney added.

Kearney’s counterpart, Col. Jaime Lactao, said the 2,900 Philippine troops who participated in the two-week war exercises "got exposed to new techniques, tactics and procedures in the conduct of war."

"We got a lot of benefits from this Balikatan through being exposed to one of the most powerful armed forces in the world," he said.

Aside from the 2,700 US soldiers participating in joint military exercises, about 1,000 US troops are in Basilan helping Philippine forces in the hunt for the Abu Sayyaf Islamist rebels.

The Abu Sayyaf has been linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist network of fugitive Saudi millionaire Osama bin Laden. The Basilan operations are part of the US government’s war against terrorism.

Kearney said they "certainly have had extensive conversations regarding what we call military art, which is an exchange of opinions on tactics, techniques and procedures that we go through in planning operations, planning of this exercise, planning of the reaction to the unfortunate incident."

Kearney was referring to a Philippine Air Force F-5A fighter jet that crashed last Thursday in Mabalacat, Pampanga, killing its pilot, Capt. Daniel Teodoro Policarpio.

The Vietnam War-era plane was coming in for landing at an airfield in Clark after an exercise with US and Philippine forces when it plowed into an empty school in the nearby town of Mabalacat.

The plane’s lone pilot was killed and 18 people on the ground were injured.

US and Philippine military doctors sent a medical mission to Mabalacat for residents affected by the crash.

The F-5A crash was one of two air accidents that marred the war games. On April 26, a PAF MG-520 helicopter gunship crashed at Clark during maneuvers with US and Philippine forces. Its two pilots escaped with minor injuries.

The two accidents prompted PAF officials to ground all PAF aircraft participating in the exercises pending a check on their airworthiness.

Meanwhile, a government office overseeing the conduct of the joint military exercises, is now awaiting a report from health officials in Pampanga to see if there was a rise in prostitution during the war games.

"I don’t think we can eliminate the problem but we’d like to prevent the exercises in becoming a significant factor in the rise of this social problem," said Jaime Yambao, executive director of the Presidential Commission on the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFACom).

Aside from that, the panel is also assessing the exercises’ economic impact on the provinces and areas that served as venues for the war games.

US soldiers have been ordered by their commanders to observe strict discipline and stay out of trouble to avoid offending the sensibilities of local residents and giving grist to critics against the war games.

Critics and nationalists oppose the war games, saying they give rise to prostitution. During the heyday of the US bases in the country, dozens of bars catered to American troops.

The bases in Subic Bay in Zambales and in Clark closed in 1992 after the Philippine Senate refused to extend their leases. — With Pia Lee-Brago