US Pacific Command to continue aid to RP war vs terrorism

ZAMBOANGA CITY — The US Pacific Command vowed to continue helping the Armed Forces beef up its anti-terrorism campaign in Mindanao and elsewhere in the country next year.

US Admiral William Fallon, commander of the US Pacific Command, gave this assurance during the March 7 hearing of the US Senate armed services committee on the military strategy and operational requirements in the 2007 US defense budget.

"We are trying to help them build the capacity to deal with the terrorist problem in the southern Philippines," the US Pacific Command website quoted Fallon as telling the Senate defense committee.

Fallon aired the commitment when Senator Hilary Rodham Clinton, a member of the committee, inquired about the status and extent of US military assistance to the Philippines.

"We are helping them on the ground with advisers in Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago," Fallon told the committee.

He said his command is also working on a number of programs to build up the hardware of the Philippine military.

US forces completed their joint Balikatan exercise in Sulu last March 6, training and assisting Filipino soldiers in the war against terrorism.

The Balikatan exercise focused on humanitarian missions to keep away residents from supporting terrorists.

Maj. Gen. Gabriel Habacon, chief of the Armed Forces Southern Command, said a contingent of US soldiers is continuing its Bayanihan exercise in Sulu.

The Bayanihan exercise, which was temporarily halted to pave the way for the much shorter Balikatan, is expected to run until June.

Bayanihan gives more emphasis on developmental programs and medical assistance to impoverished communities in Sulu. — Roel Pareño