ZAMBOANGA CITY, 5 July 2004 — American and Filipino troops are to hold anti-terrorism training exercises in southern province of North Cotabato, where separatist rebels are actively operating, the provincial governor revealed yesterday.
“There will be joint training in North Cotabato, probably in Carmen town,” Gov. Emmanuel Pi?ol said during an interview with the radio network DZRH.
Carmen town is a known stronghold of the country’s largest separatist group, Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Pi?ol said troops participating in the exercises are also expected to hold a series of medical missions in remote villages in the province as part of the training dubbed “Balikatan 04,” which means “shoulder-to-shoulder.”
Philippine Defense chief Eduardo Ermita was earlier quoted as saying that the training is aimed at tracking down at least 40 Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militants in Mt. Cararao in nearby Lanao del Sur province. He accused the MILF of coddling the militants, a charge vehemently denied by the separatist group’s officials. “Ermita is lying,” MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said by phone from Maguindanao province.
“The MILF is not coddling terrorists and we have no links whatsoever with the Jemaah Islamiya, not even the Al-Qaeda network. They can go and scour Mt. Cararao and won’t find any terrorist camp there,” he added.
Dozens of US Special Forces soldiers will also train Filipino troops in Zamboanga City beginning this month, said Southern Command spokesman Maj. Bartolome Bacarro. “The training would include members of the Philippine Army’s Light Infantry Battalion,” he told the Arab News.
Military officials could not give out the exact venue of the joint training exercises pending approval by the Mutual Defense Board.
“We still cannot say the exact venue of the training, except that it would be under the Southern Command area of operations,” Lt. Col. Daniel Lucero said in a separate interview..
Abu Sayyaf
Southern Command chief Lt. Gen. Roy Kyamko previously said the war games could be held in Jolo and Tawi-Tawi islands, where the Abu Sayyaf rebels are known to operate. The group is also believed to be holding two kidnapped Malaysian seamen and an Indonesian skipper.
Kyamko said US soldiers had arrived in Zamboanga City from Okinawa, Japan. The Balikatan 04 would include sea, air and land training modules and would cover many areas and terrain types in the strife-torn region, where New People’s Army (NPA) rebels are also active.
Admiral Thomas Fargo, commander of the US forces in the Pacific, last week inspected American troops in Zamboanga City and announced the holding of the new joint military exercises, which is aimed at helping Manila defeat terrorism. Fargo said the US is concerned about the presence of JI militants in the southern
The US said it would provide some $4 million for the training. Last year, US forces also trained Filipino troops in Zamboanga City and Basilan and at the same time provided the AFP with intelligence information that led to the arrest and killing of known Abu Sayyaf and JI members, including Indonesian bomb-maker Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi.
The JI is blamed for a string of bombings in Indonesia and the Philippines, including the Bali attack and the Dec. 30, 2000 bombing in Manila that killed hundreds of people.
Protest in Hong Kong
In Hong Kong, dozens of Filipino domestic workers marched on the US Consulate yesterday — US Independence Day — to demand the withdrawal of American troops from the Philippines, police and an organizer said.
About 100 people chanted anti-American slogans outside the consulate and staged a skit depicting US President George W. Bush holding a dog leash linked to the neck of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, said Eman Villanueva, who helped organize the event.
Police spokesman Mackenzie Mak estimated the crowd at about 60.
Villanueva said the United States used terrorism as an excuse to send troops into the Philippines to protect its Asian interests, and that the Philippine government felt beholden to comply because it is dependent on US loans. “Practically, it is a slave to the United States,” Villanueva said.
July 4 also marks Filipino-American Friendship Day, but Villanueva charged the relationship was one of “master-servant.”
Calls to the local Philippine consulate went unanswered. US Consulate General spokeswoman Susan N. Stevenson said: “We respect everyone’s right to express their opinion.” (Additional input from The Associated Press)
