Wednesday, April 30, 2008

National Guard On Their Way To Southern Philippines

SULU, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Apr. 30, 2008) – More US troops are expected to arrive soon in the Philippines to support hundreds already deployed in the southern part of the country aiding Filipino troops in battling terrorism.
At least 30 soldiers, part of the Guam Army National Guard's 1st Battalion under the 294th Infantry Regiment, are heading to support the "Operation Enduring Freedom-Philippines," the Guam-based Mariana's Variety newspaper reported Wednesday.

It said the soldiers will serve as security, at least for six months, for a unit of the Special Operations Command-Pacific that is conducting joint civilian-military operations and training with the Philippine military.

US soldiers deployed in the south are under the Joint Special Task-Philippines which is based in Zamboanga City, but its "area of operations", according to a US military publication, spans 8,000 square miles, covering the entire island of Mindanao and its surrounding islands and seas. With various military facilities now being constructed for their use, members of the unit refer to their bases in Mindanao as "forward operating base-11" and "advanced operating base-921".
Though US and Philippine government officials have consistently claimed that the unit is not involved in actual combat, US troops themselves describe their mission as "unconventional warfare" and "counter-insurgency" operations in the country. US troops join Filipino soldiers on patrol, provide them with intelligence, and assist in various aspects of their operation.

American soldiers are also active in many development and humanitarian activities in the southern Philippines, especially in Sulu province where they built roads and schools and join medical missions with local troops and provincial government mostly in poor areas.

The humanitarian missions is part of the Balikatan, which means "shoulder-to-shoulder," an annual Philippine and US bilateral military humanitarian assistance and training activity.

Sulu Governor Sakur Tan said the humanitarian missions helped many poor families in the province.

Just earlier this year, about 600 US troops worked with civilian authorities and the Armed Forces of the Philippines in various humanitarian projects that included free medical, dental and veterinary care in Sulu province and also in central and Western part of Mindanao.

US and Philippine soldiers, many of them construction engineers, built schools and other community infrastructures in those areas.

In 2006, the United States Navy hospital ship Mercy had treated more than 60,000 mostly poor Filipino patients in separate medical missions in Sulu, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi islands, including Zamboanga City, as part of the Project Bayanihan. (Mindanao Examiner)

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