(UPDATE) Phl, US to hold Balikatan exercises in May

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - Around 5,500 Filipino and American soldiers will participate in this year's Balikatan exercises which will start on May 5, a Philippine military official said Tuesday.

Capt. Annalea Cazcarro, spokesman of the Balikatan exercises, said at least 2,500 American soldiers will arrive in the country for the annual large-scale training activity aimed at improving the interoperability of the US and Philippine military.

Cazcarro said field training exercises will be held at the Naval Station San Miguel in San Antonio town in the province of Zambales.

Other training venues for this year's Balikatan exercises are Fort Magsaysay, Clark Air Base, and Marine Base Ternate which are all in northern Philippines.

She said staff exercises focusing on humanitarian assistance and disaster response would be held in the western Philippine city of Puerto Princesa.

Civil military operations activities, Cazcarro said, will be staged in the central Philippine city of Tacloban, which was ravaged by typhoon Haiyan and in Legazpi City in eastern Philippines.  

This year's Balikatan will run until May 16.