Balance Piston exercises end as VFA termination hovers

MANILA, Philippines — One of more than 300 joint military exercises of Filipino and American forces scheduled this year ended in Palawan this week, perhaps among the last Philippine-US war games before the Duterte administration’s planned termination of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) six months from now.

Dubbed Balance Piston 20-1, the just concluded joint military engagements focused on counterterrorist operations that involved Special Forces from the Philippines and the US.

Balance Piston 20-1 is the first of the supposed wide-ranging Army-to-Army training lined up this year to include the Philippine-US joint Balikatan military exercises scheduled in May.

However, with the forthcoming termination of the VFA, the remaining planned joint exercises to include the Balikatan exercises, are expected to be scaled down, if not scrapped altogether. 

VFA is the enabler of the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) between the Philippines and the US. Through this agreement, the US government is allowed to deploy its forces, on a rotation basis, in the country.

Another agreement between the Philippines and the US is the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) that allows the forward deployment of US key military logistics and equipment in the country.

Funded by the US government, the joint/combined exchange training (JCET), the Army-to-Army activities held in several areas of Puerto Princesa City were launched last Jan. 26 and ended last Sunday.

On orders of President Duterte, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has served a notice of termination of the VFA to the US early this month.

The US embassy said the joint training of Special Forces from both countries held in Palawan covered a variety of counterterrorism subjects and exercises.

“Training not only focused on tactical skills, but also stressed the importance of local community support and outreach projects as part of a holistic counterterrorism strategy,” the US embassy in a press statement said.

It added that each JCET held in the Philippines is funded by the US Department of Defense (DoD) on an average cost of P50 million or around $1 million.

Through the joint training, it said both US and Filipino forces are honing their counterterrorism tactics as well as further improving their skills in related operations.

“The joint training also helps to strengthen the longstanding bond between US and Philippine military forces,” the US embassy said.

As a longstanding friend, partner, and ally of the Philippines, the US embassy, without any mention of the soon to be abrogated VFA, said the US government continues to provide support to the AFP through various training activities.