Balikatan
"Shouldering the Load Together"
The Balikatan series is an annual event aimed at improving RP-US combined planning, combat readiness, and interoperability while enhancing security relations and demonstrating US resolve to support the Republic of the Philippines against external aggression.
Balikatan is conducted to meet RP-US obligations under the Mutual Defense Treaty and to fulfill RP-US mutual training and readiness requirements. The Phillipine Constitution does not allow long-term basing by another country in the Philippines. The last of the US military bases at Subic and Clark were closed in the early 1990s. The first Balikatan exercise was conducted in 1991. In 1995 the Philippines ended Balikatan because of a dispute over the Visiting Forces Agreement. That agreement gives the United States jurisdiction over crimes committed by military personnel while on duty in a foreign country. It was reinstated in May 1999 despite protests from the Catholic Church and other anti-U.S. elements in the Philippines. The Visiting Forces Agreement provided for expanded military cooperation after coming into force in 1999. The Balikatan resumed in 1999 after being suspended.
Balikatan 2001
Exercise BALIKATAN 2001 was held from 26 April to 10 May 2001 in the Republic of the Philippines (RP). RP and U.S. military personnel from all branches of service, working shoulder-to-shoulder in the heat and the rain, cross-trained in military operations such as air rescue, amphibious operations, close air support, small arms training, and staging support. They also built and renovated schools and provided much-needed dental, medical, and veterinary services for barangays near Clark International Airport. Barangays are basic Philippine political units for planning and implementing government policies, programs and activities in the community.
BALIKATAN 2001 provided joint/ combined training to improve combat readiness against an external attack on the Philippines, as covered by the1952 Mutual Defense Treaty between the Republic of the Philippines and the United States.
BALIKATAN was part of the Exercise TEAM CHALLENGE series. Designed as an umbrella exercise, TEAM CHALLENGE's goal is to improve combat readiness and interoperability by tying together joint combined exercises with Thailand, Philippines, Singapore and other interested countries. BALIKATAN 2001 incorporated TEAM CHALLENGE scenarios, such as training in peacekeeping, humanitarian and civic-assistance operations.
Balikatan 2001 was specifically designed to improve RP-US armed forces combat readiness in joint and combined operations, and interoperability between RP and US services through the exchange of training skills and techniques. Balikatan 2001 specifically serves as the base line concept and benchmark for future Balikatan exercises.
Balikatan 2001 was composed of eight major events and several support activities. These events are seminar/workshop, cross trainings, field training exercises and civil military operations. Support activities include command and control, force protection and security operations, information and public affairs, protocol, personnel, medical and evacuation, logistics, communications, legal, engineering and exercise related constructions, and liaison.
Balikatan 2001 was conducted within the constraint of the available resources of AFP and US, consistent with the provisions, intent and spirit of the Mutual Defense Treaty and the Visiting Forces Agreement. The conduct of Balikatan 2001 was approved by the RP-US Council of Foreign Ministers through the Mutual Defense Board Co-Chairmen, the CSAFP and USCINCPAC. For the year 2001, the exercise area was limited to the islands of Luzon and Palawan.
BALIKATAN 2001 began 26 April with formal ceremonies at the General Headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) at Camp Aguinaldo. Philippine Vice President and Foreign Affairs Secretary Teofisto Guingona welcomed the American forces with these words, "Our relationship with the United States is borne out of longtime friendship and partnership that remains steadfast ...over 100 years. We are committed to a new page in Philippine-American relations - one founded on equality and mutual respect. We want to share better experiences, so that we can promote a more meaningful peace in the years ahead."
Exercise events began 27 April. Participants in a combined joint seminar, held 27 April to 3 May, addressed crisis-action planning followed by a practical exercise. They focused on peacekeeping and noncombatant evacuation operations in conformity with the TEAM CHALLENGE concept. The various services of the two nations also began field training 27 April. The cross-training in various tactics, techniques and procedures represented the type of combined operations that would occur if the two nations were to work together in a contingency operation.
Balikatan 2002-2
The United States has announced that the purpose of the Balikatan 2002 exercise is to improve the Philippines/US combined planning, combat readiness and interoperability. The exercise will also enhance security relations and demonstrate U.S. resolve to support the Philippines against external aggression and state sponsored terrorism through training in joint/combined operations and conduct of other related activities consistent with the Mutual Defense Treaty. 2002-2 is a regularly scheduled exercise that was planned well before September 11. Its scenario does not directly involve counter-terrorism, and it is unrelated to Balikatan 2002-1 in the southern part of the country.
Balikatan 2002-2 is the eighteenth in this series of exercises, which began in 1981.
Phase I of Balikatan 2002, a Combined Task Force seminar/command post exercise, will be conducted from April 22 through May 6, 2002. This will exercise a Combined Joint Task Force Headquarters Staff and augmentation personnel on crisis action planning and course of action execution at the operational level with a focus on peace enforcement operations. Phase II includes cross training, field training and humanitarian civil assistance exercises from April 22 through May 6, 2002. The cross training and field training portions will enhance the interoperability of U.S. Armed Forces and the Armed Forces of Philippines (AFP). The humanitarian civil assistance will improve U.S./AFP military civic action cooperation while training civil military operators to work together in a Combined Joint Task Force structure with a focus on civil assistance. They will conduct multiple medical, dental, veterinary and engineering civil assistance projects during this phase.
There are several humanitarian and civic assistance projects scheduled during 2002-2 by both Philippine and American forces. These include veterinary and dental teams providing free clinics, and engineering projects designed to improve the local infrastructure.
The exercise is held on the island of Luzon.
Balikatan 2003-1
In July 2002 Manila agreed to host for nine months beginning in October 2002 joint military exercises involving what could be the biggest deployment of US troops since the Americans left their bases in Clark and Subic in 1991. The exercises, with eight battalions totaling 4,000 troops, in Luzon and Mindanao would be the biggest and longest to be undertaken by Filipino and American soldiers. The training of light reaction companies (LRCs) alone would take up to four months and three months for the battalions. An agreement covering the transfer and storage of supplies and weapons to be used during the war games or similar activities would be concluded before the start of the exercises. Maneuvers would likely be held in an army boot camp north of Manila as well as in the southern Philippines, possibly including the southern island of Jolo, an Abu Sayyaf stronghold.
More than 450 U.S. service members along with a variety of standard military cargo were offloaded at Subic Bay on April 17, 2003 to take part in Exercise Balikatan 2003. The personnel were transported from Okinawa, Japan, to here via the High Speed Vessel to make early arrangments before the exercise kicks off. The exercise is designed to better train Philippine and U.S. air, ground and naval forces to handle any contingencies, emergencies or disasters which may arise throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
The exercise is to be conducted in two simultaneous phases including a combined command post exercise on crisis planning and execution on an operational level focusing on peace enforcement operations. The second phase is to consist of cross-training, field-training, and humanitarian civil assistance exercises designed to enhance interoperability between Philippine and US forces.
Unlike Balikatan 2002-1, the 2003 exercise is in no way related to the ongoing counterterrorism training in the southern Philippines according to military officials.
The exercise officially began on April 17.
Balikatan 2004
From the Initial and Final Planning Conferences to the actual execution of the exercise, the Marine Expeditionary Brigade (MEB) was given less than five months to fully plan the combined bilateral exercise with their Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) counterparts. Clear strategic vision and mission-oriented guidance from the Co-Exercise Director Brig. Gen. Kenneth Glueck, commanding general, 3d MEB, allowed the staff to devise and execute a plan that fully employed the MEB's expeditionary capabilities.
The deployment of personnel and equipment to the Philippines was accomplished through various means of transportation that included commercial shipping and aircraft, military aircraft and the WestPac Express, a leased high speed vessel. A command and control challenge for the MEB was that 2004's Balikatan was not held in one central location; it was spread throughout the Philippines. The CTF staff operated out of two locations that were approximately 400 miles apart. The CTF headquarters was located at AFP's Western Command in Puerto Princesa on the island of Palawan where civil-military operations projects and the Staff Seminar/Command Post Exercise were conducted. The CTF Forward was located in Central Luzon where amphibious training, live fire training and air operations occurred.
The U.S.-AFP Civil-Military Operations Task Force conducted 12 Civic Action Projects and provided more than 24,000 residents with medical, dental, and veterinary care. Engineering Civic Action Projects were also conducted to include the construction of a water well and water tank, refurbishing of the Puerto Princesa City Health Office and building of five school classrooms. Also, for the first time, Civil-Military operators were able to provided medical services to more than 2,100 residents of Basco, Batanes, which the U.S. military uses as an aircraft refueling location.
Balikatan 2005
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief Of Staff Gen. Efren L. Abu declared Exercise Balikatan 2005 officially opened 21 February during a ceremony at Camp Aguinaldo in Manila, headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. A top priority for Balikatan 2005 was joint cooperation in training to conduct humanitarian and civic assistance projects. Members from the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force worked side by side with their AFP counterparts.
Approximately 300 U.S. personnel and 550 AFP personnel participated. Balikatan 2005 is the 21st in the series of these exercises. Medical Civic Action Projects included distributing medical supplies, seeing patients, and checking on animal health in the typhoon impacted area of Quezon province and in Laguna province. Engineering Civic Action Projects featured the construction of an economically vital 1.2 kilometer farm-to-market road connecting the towns of Alima to San Buenaventura, as well as building five classrooms for the San Buenaventura High School. Much of the labor and funding for this construction was donated by the local government and volunteers.
Balikatan 2006
The 2006 Balikatan exercise will be conducted in three phases: humanitarian and civic assistance on the island of Jolo in Sulu, a combined task force staff exercise in Cebu and cross training and field training exercises in Luzon. Approximately 5,500 U.S. personnel and approximately 2,800 Armed Forces of the Philippines, or AFP, personnel participated.
Approximately 400 exercise participants were in Jolo for 11 engineering and medical civic action projects. They worked with the AFP and local volunteers to construct new school buildings and provide medical, dental and veterinarian services to the island’s residents.
The exercise was one of the 37 joint U.S.-Philippine military exercises planned during fiscal year 2006. Such exercises provided opportunities for training, humanitarian assistance projects, information-sharing and other activities that benefit the national security interests of both the U.S. and the Philippines, officials said.
Exercise Balikatan 2006 commenced 20 February at Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo. Although the 17 February 2006 mudslide in Leyte, Philippines, caused more than 1,500 U.S. troops to divert in support of the relief efforts, more than 3,500 U.S. service members were still working to ensure Balikatan was successful during its 22nd evolution, according to U.S. Marine Brig. Gen. Mastin M. Robeson, commander, Joint Task Force Balikatan 2006 and deputy commander, combined task force.
One of several civil action programs that took place during Exercise Balikatan 2006 included having Armed Forces of the Philippines engineers and Airmen work at a construction site of a three-room school, an addition to the existing Sulu High School.
Balikatan 2007
The 23rd edition of exercise Balikatan opened 19 February 2007 in a ceremony commemorating 50 years of the U.S. and the Republic of the Philippines working shoulder to shoulder. According to Maj. Gen. Stephen D Tom, US co-exercise director; there was to be 13 Medical Capabilities and five Engineering Capabilities as part of the exercise. The projects totalled $300,000. There were approximately 390 US servicemembers and 1,200 Philippine servicemembers participating in 2007's exercise.
One project that U.S. and Filipino soldiers on Jolo Island took on was the paving of a four-kilometer road that will allow local residents to travel easily from their village to the island’s largest municipality year round.
Aside from the road improvement project, the two militaries worked with local governments and partners to hold 12 free medical clinics in Mindanao that treated more than 6,000 residents; provided free dental care and veterinary care; built and renovated schools, a day care center, and a health clinic; and repaired a boat ramp and pier.
Another facet of Balikatan was a Staff Exercise. In this portion, the US and the RP created a scenario for crisis action planning. The event’s center is maritime operations. The goal of the STAFFEX was to combine the knowledge of the two countries and create doctrine for maritime protection, which will help the two countries learn to work together in addressing real-world challenges such as terrorist transit routes, piracy, drug smuggling, and critical infrastructure protection.
