MANILA >> A handful of military personnel from Hawaii are among the 2,700 U.S. troops headed to the Philippines for a joint military exercise, according to Maj. Sean Gibson, spokesman for the Commander in Chief of Pacific forces. Additional U.S. troops
heading to PhilippinesStaff and wire reports
The three-week joint military exercise with 2,900 Philippine troops begins Sunday and is aimed at helping the United States' biggest Southeast Asian ally improve its defenses and ability to participate in U.N. peacekeeping missions, the Philippine military said yesterday.
The latest batch of troops comes on the heels of a 660-strong American military contingent, which began arriving in the southern Philippines in January to train Filipino soldiers to fight against a Muslim militant group believed to be linked to the al-Qaida terror network.
The new exercise will be held on the main island of Luzon, in the north of the sprawling archipelago, far from the ongoing six-month exercise in the south. Another 300 U.S. naval engineers are on a ship off the coast awaiting Philippine government approval for three months of civil projects aimed at fostering development in the poverty-stricken, Muslim-dominated south.
Most of the U.S. troops involved in the new exercise are from Okinawa, Guam and Japan along with the Navy landing ship USS Fort McHenry and 36 American helicopters, transport planes and fighter jets.
Gibson said the Hawaii-based troops are mostly individual staff members with no major units involved.
A statement from the Philippine military said the maneuvers will enhance its pilots' night-flying and search-and-rescue skills, while army troops will gain command skills and experience in helicopter operations, field-artillery firing and close-air support.
The latest exercise also carries dangers because communist rebels operate in the area.
The New People's Army -- the armed wing of the Maoist Communist Party of the Philippines -- claims it and a Muslim separatist group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, will be the next targets of the expanded U.S. war on terrorism after Abu Sayyaf. Philippine officials have denied that.
The government and the communist rebels opened peace negotiations last year, but President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo suspended them after guerrillas assassinated a former congressman. Informal contacts between the sides continue.