Philippines, US set to hold biggest Balikatan

Annual joint exercises to include maritime, territorial defense

MANILA, Philippines — Filipino and American troops are set to hold their biggest joint military exercises in April under Balikatan 2023 amid China’s growing brazenness in asserting its claim over waters within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.

Philippine Army Commanding General Lt. Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., in an interview with “The Chiefs” on One News Monday night, said Palawan would be among the areas where the exercises would be held.

Several of the land features in the West Philippine Sea occupied by the Chinese are off Palawan.

Last week, a Chinese coast guard ship beamed powerful lasers on Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessel BRP Malapascua that was helping deliver provisions to a military outpost on the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal in the Kalayaan Island Group.

The military-grade lasers briefly blinded some crewmembers of Malapascua.

The Chinese claimed the laser beams were meant merely to check the speed and distance of the PCG vessel and was not harmful.

“We are now bringing in more components into the training exercise. There are now many new capabilities that we have to develop jointly. So we are including this in the exercises this year,” Brawner said.

“Aside from that, we are saying this is the biggest so far because the United States is bringing in more troops compared to the previous years,” he added.

Brawner said Balikatan 2023 would definitely include “aspects of maritime and territorial defense” along with other combat and non-combat components like counter-terrorism and humanitarian assistance and disaster response (HADR).

He did not give details regarding the size of this year’s maneuver, but based on a US embassy statement last year, the previous exercises involved 9,000 Philippine and US troops, 50 aircraft, four ships and 10 amphibious craft.

“This is not the first time that we are doing that,” he said, adding that the Balikatan in April would be the 38th iteration of such drills which included beach landings by Philippine and US Marine personnel.

Brawner said Balikatan 2023 would involve both combat and non-combat drills like field training exercises as well as subject matter exchanges among experts in classroom set-up.

Asked if electronic warfare would be part of this year’s exercises, Brawner said it would be included but stressed this year’s event was not meant to provoke any country.

“We’ve been doing this for a long time and it’s really no provocation because in our planning, we are very careful, we consider that. We also consider the effects on our neighbors, even our ASEAN neighbors,” he explained.

“We are really very careful when we select for instance the scenario that we are going to exercise, but as I said, this isn’t focused only on combat,” he pointed out.

Brawner said China or any other neighboring country is not informed of the specifics of the Balikatan as it is public knowledge anyway and is regularly announced by the military.

“It’s really not a secret that we hold this Balikatan exercise but we also have an observer program which is injected into the Balikatan exercise where we allow our partners to observe the exercises,” he said, referring to partner nations like Japan, South Korea, Australia and ASEAN neighbors.

Meanwhile, PCG Commandant Admiral Artemio Abu yesterday called on his men to remain steadfast in their task of protecting the country’s territorial waters.

“We carry the weight of great expectations from both the Filipino people and the global community. It is our solemn duty to uphold the best interests of our country and our people and to never falter in our commitment to this cause,” Abu said in a speech after giving awards to crewmembers of Malapascua and BRP Teresa Magbanua in recognition of their efforts to protect Filipino fishermen.

“As we continually muster our courage, may I remind all the coast guardians to never lose sight of the aspirations that we all set forth at the beginning of my term for us to collectively accomplish,” he added.

He praised PCG officers and men “who have displayed exceptional courage and stern determination to defend” the Philippines and its territory.

He reminded the PCG personnel of the delicate situation in the West Philippine Sea, particularly in areas around Palawan.

“While we may not have the advantage of having larger and more sophisticated vessels, our unwavering determination and strong will to uphold our dignity as one solid independent nation and assert our sovereign rights will undoubtedly make a significant difference,” he said. – Robertzon Ramirez