Balikatan ’06 ends with RP, US pledge to work ‘shoulder-to-shoulder’

CLARK FIELD, Pampanga - The two-week long Balikatan 2006 RP-US joint military exercises ended here yesterday with both sides exchanging words of gratitude and pledges to continue working "shoulder-to- shoulder."

Armed Forces chief Gen. Generoso Senga, guest speaker during the closing ceremonies attended by top Philippine and US military officials, expressed gratidude to the US military for its assistance in rescue and relief operations in mud-buried Barangay Guinsugon in Saint Bernard town Southern Leyte where a team of US military personnel will stay on "indefinitely" to help in rehabilitation efforts.

"When called for help, friends do not ask why, but how," Senga said, noting that the US help in disaster operations was testimony to an "enduring alliance" between the US and the Philippines.

"I thank our American friends and partners for the assistance," he said.

US Marines Brig. Gen. Mastin Robeson, Balikatan 2006-co-director and joint task force commander, also thanked the Philippine government "for the opportunity to deepen our friendship."

In his speech, Robeson noted that the US military had "provided safety to 5,000 evacuees" in Guinsaugon and provided them with  one million pounds of food and other supplies. "It was a huge accomplishment, but together we did it," he said.

In Jolo which hosted some of the Balikatan exercises, six school buildings were built, and about 12,000 folk benefitted from medical and dental missions, he said. Veterinary assistance was also extended to local folk.

The US medical team was composed predominantly of army doctors, dentists and veterinarians of Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii and Guam National Guard and Navy personnel from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit.

Some $250,000 was spent by the US military for the civic relations projects in Jolo, Sulu while another $4million was spent for disaster operations in Southern Leyte.

US military spokesman Lt. Clint Gebke said that a US team composed of six members was left behind in Southerh Leyte to continue assisting in rehabilitation efforts there.

He said that the hectic schedule for Balikatan plus the rescue operations took away any "liberty time" for US military personnel, but some of them were able to go on "leisure and educational tours." Last Saturday, some 120 US soldiers ferried to historic Corregidor island, one of the last bastions of US defense during World War II off the coast of Bataan.

Philippine Army Brig. Gen.Daniel Casabar, co-director of Balikatan 2006, noted that "for the first time in the history of Balikatan exercises, plans for civic-military operations were changed arising from the mudslide that buried Guinsugon."

He said Balikatan 2006, the 22nd such joint military exercise to be held, has proven to be "the most people oriented" with its focus on the disaster operations in Southern Leyte.

Last Friday, US Navy Admiral William Fallon, commander, US Pacific Command, arrived here and thanked more than 100 Philippine and US soldiers "for their humanitarian assistance relief efforts" in Southern Leyte.

Fallon said US forces are "forward deployed and can respond to a full spectrum of challenges from military operations to humanitarian missions like the civilian assistance operations that occurred on Southern Leyte."