No Balikatan in Sulu — US

A ranking US military official and director of the RP-US military training exercise said yesterday there is no plan to hold the next "Balikatan" in Sulu, another stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group.

However, President Arroyo herself said US military advisers may be deployed in Sulu for the next military exercise.

Brig. Gen. Donald Wurster, commander of the US contingent participating in the ongoing joint military training exercise dubbed Balikatan 02-1 in Basilan, said there were several options the two governments are considering for the next war games, but none of them covered Sulu.

"We don’t have exercise plans for Sulu. We don’t have terms of reference to include Sulu. Right now, there is nothing that I know about going to Sulu," Wurster told reporters.

Wurster was among the guests at the closing rite for Balikatan’s non-commissioned officers’ tactical training course with the US advisers at a training camp in Barangay Malagutay in Zamboanga City.

Addressing the 55th anniversary celebration of the Philippine Air Force at Villamor Air Base in Pasay City, the President said the forthcoming Balikatan to begin in October, "will have a Sulu component."

Mrs. Arroyo also said training would largely take place in Army and Air Force bases in Luzon.

Sulu is where the largest units of the Abu Sayyaf are holding out after they were flushed out of Basilan by sustained military offensive, assisted by US Special Forces using modern surveillance equipment.

At the same time, Wurster said some 350 US troops will be pulled out of Basilan in the next two weeks, to be followed by about 500 deployed in nearby Zamboanga City as support personnel.

Although the current Balikatan will officially wind up on July 31, over 400 elements of the US Seabees and security troops will stay behind in Basilan and Zamboanga to complete on-going infrastructure projects in the two areas.

"Our primary purpose after July 31 is humanitarian assistance," Wurster said, adding that 80 of the US soldiers will be based in Basilan and 340 in Zamboanga.

He said US helicopters will also be deployed for the remaining troops for any contingencies.

"Those people in the island need to have helicopters to get them if they are injured. We need some security to watch them," Wurster said.

MNLF helping in rescue efforts

The military said former fighters of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and local government officials of Sulu have been helping in the search and rescue operations for three kidnapped Indonesian sailors.

Quoting intelligence reports, Maj. Gen. Ernesto Carolina, chief of the military’s Southern Command (Southcom) based in Zamboanga City, said the kidnappers led by a certain Commander Walub were planning to hand over the captives to an Abu Sayyaf faction headed by Radulan Sahiron.

Carolina said the troops, assisted by the civilian volunteers, have been combing the island-town of Luuk in search for the three Indonesians identified as skipper Muntu Jacobos Winowatan, chief officer Julkipli and crew member Pieter Lerrech.

Carolina said Sulu Gov. Yusop Jikiri, concurrent MNLF chief of staff, has mobilized his forces for the search and rescue operations.

Carolina said the kidnappers may also take the hostages to Patikul town where Sahiron’s band was believed holding out after fleeing the heat in Basilan. — With Marichu Villanueva, AFP