Government determined to hold next Balikatan in Sulu - Golez

ZAMBOANGA CITY — The government is bent on holding a "component" of the next joint RP-US "Balikatan" exercises in Sulu where remnants of the Abu Sayyaf are hiding in their jungle lairs, National Security Adviser Roilo Golez said yesterday.

"President Arroyo made it very clear in her speech during the Philippine Air Force Day that she would like a Sulu component (in the next Balikatan)," Golez told reporters here moments after he met with Brig. Gen. Donald Wurster, commander of US forces currently in the country.

Golez met with Wurster two days after the American general was quoted as saying joint exercises in Sulu would not be feasible because of serious security implications presented by the presence of both the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Moro National Liberation Front.

The President herself rebuked Wurster and said the matter was "way above his head" and was being discussed at a higher level.

Golez stressed that Manila had wanted the exercises to be held in Luzon but the US side had raised the possibility of conducting a part of the next exercise in Sulu, an idea the President welcomed.

"The President wants that all leaders of the Abu Sayyaf be neutralized. There is to be no letup. It is zero tolerance against the Abu Sayyaf," Golez said.

Golez said the President’s response to the US suggestion has already been conveyed by Armed Forces chief Gen. Roy Cimatu to Admiral Thomas Fargo, commander-in-chief of the US Pacific Command, the mother unit of the US forces now in the country.

"There is no definite future yet because the process is ongoing," he added.

He said the matter will be discussed at the technical level before it is discussed by Philippine and US military officials at the level of the Mutual Defense Board, the implementing body of the RP-US Mutual Defense Treaty of 1951.

After Cimatu and Fargo agree at the MDT level, the matter will be elevated to the council of ministers, also a joint body under the Mutual Defense Treaty, which consists of the foreign ministers of both countries.

Golez stressed that in the absence of a final agreement, neither side could really say if the Sulu exercises will push through "but that is the direction we are taking."

Discussions on the next Balikatan exercises commenced last month in anticipation of the end of the Balikatan 02-1 exercises in Western Mindanao.

The Balikatan exercises began on Feb. 15 and brought some 1,000 US servicemen to Zamboanga City and Basilan island to train and assist Filipino troops pursuing Abu Sayyaf rebels who were then holding hostage the American missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham and Filipino nurse Edibora Yap.

Gracia Burnham was rescued in the operation in Zamboanga del Norte last June 7 but Martin and Yap were killed in the crossfire.

Aside from the combat units in Basilan, there are also some 300 US military engineers who are constructing key infrastructure in the island to facilitate troop movements.

The US troops are scheduled to be withdrawn when Balikatan ends July 31, leaving behind only a small liaison group to organize future exercises and training programs.

But US troops will supposedly continue humanitarian help to Basilan residents even after assistance to local troops ends this month.