MANILA (Army News Service, March 8, 2005) - U.S. and Philippine armed forces have wrapped up their 21st joint exercise known as Balikatan 2005, focusing on humanitarian and civil assistance.

U.S. troops worked with their counterparts in the Armed Forces of the Philippines on 11 medical civic action projects, an engineering project that added five classrooms to a school, and a farm-to-market road.

Construction site preparation and materials came from local government and volunteers.

During the medical projects, joint forces treated more than 23,000 patients and distributed medical supplies valued at more than $100,000. Military medical professionals from the U.S. and the Philippines examined more than 1,000 animals.

U.S. and AFP engineers built five new classrooms for an overcrowded school in San Buenaventura and completed a 1.2-kilometer road budget and ahead of schedule.

"The biggest success of this year's Balikatan is the learning, interoperability and cooperation shown while working 'shoulder to shoulder' every day between the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines from the AFP and U.S.," said U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Stephen Tom, exercise co-director.

About 300 U.S. personnel and 550 AFP members participated in this year's exercise.