Camp Siongco hosts Philippine-Australian Army exercise

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Officials launched Thursday a joint Philippine-Australian military exercise in nearby Camp Siongco, command center of the 6th Infantry Division.

Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, Lt. Gen. Andres Centino, who is Armed Forces chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Roy Galido of the Western Mindanao Command and Major Gen. Alex Rillera of 6th ID led the kickoff rite for the Philippine-Australian Army-to-Army Exercise 2023-1.

The headquarters of 6th ID is located in Camp Siongco, the largest Philippine Army camp in central Mindanao, located in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao del Norte, about seven kilometers from the center of this city.

Marles also functions as Australia’s defense minister.

“We are honored to host this exercise in Camp Siongco,” Rillera, commander of 6th ID, told reporters Saturday.

The joint Philippine-Australian military exercise shall focus on combat shooting, close quarter battle and combat casualty care, according to Rillera.

“This exercise is essential to our peacekeeping efforts in this part of the country,” Rillera said.

The 6th ID covers the cities of Cotabato, Tacurong, Koronadal, General Santos and the provinces of Lanao del Sur, North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Maguindanao and Sarangani, where there is presence of local terrorist groups fashioned from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

More than 300 members of the ISIS-inspired Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and its allies, the Dawlah Islamiya and the Al-Khobar, have surrendered in batches to units of 6th ID in the past 16 months.

For security reasons, Galido, who was 6th ID commander prior to his assumption last month as chief of WestMinCom in Zamboanga City, and Rillera declined to reveal how many days shall the exercise last.