RP receives US body armor under new pact

Philippine troops have received 500 sets of body armor from the United States, a military official said.

Maj. Gen. Cicero Castellano, Armed Forces’ deputy chief of logistics, said the items were obtained through the government’s Mutual Logistics and Support Agreement (MLSA) with the United States.

"We are trying to prove that the MLSA is an effective facility to procure (defense items) for the use of our troops," Castellano told reporters.

Meanwhile, the 12-man advance team of the US Special Forces is holding preliminary meetings with the military’s Southern Command in Zamboanga City for the joint training next month.

Capt. Steve Wollman, spokesman of the Special Operations Task Force-P, said they are identifying sites for the training of four Light Infantry Battalions.

The military earlier identified Camp Arturo Enrile in Barangay Malagutay and the huge mountain terrain of the Zamboanga Economic and Freeport Zone in Barangay San Ramon as possible sites.

The MLSA makes it easier for the Philippines to obtain critical defense equipment from the United States in exchange for allowing US forces to source logistics and base equipment here.

Leftist and nationalist groups charge that the MLSA will eventually result in the Philippines being dragged into international conflict, but officials of both governments have downplayed this, saying the accord is just a supply agreement.

They have also said that the MLSA would allow the two allies to hold joint defense exercises as well as improve the capabilities of the poorly equipped Philippine military, particularly in the fight against local insurgents allegedly linked to international terror groups.

Defense relations between the two countries have gotten closer after President Arroyo became one of the first Asian leaders to declare her support for the US-led war on terror in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. — Jaime Laude, Roel Pareño and AFP