US and Philippine marines storm the beach to simulate a raid during the joint U.S.-Philippines military exercise dubbed Balikatan 2014 Friday, May 9, 2014 at the Naval Training Exercise Command, a former US naval base. AP FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines and its allies will help each other in upholding peace, territorial integrity and sovereignty as the Asia Pacific faces new security challenges in the 21st century “that no nation’s armed forces can face alone.”
This was how Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Gen. Emmanuel Bautista summarized the Balikatan (shoulder-to-shoulder) relations of the Philippines and the United States as the 30th iteration of the joint military exercises formally closed on Friday.
The Australian military also participated for the first time in the war games, where its P3-Orion surveillance plane was used in the Combined Arms Live Fire Exercises at Crow Valley in Capas, Tarlac.
“Today’s dynamic security environment presents challenges that no nation’s armed forces can face alone. These challenges of the 21st century include maritime security and climate change,” Bautista said.
The military chief said the Balikatan exercises “demonstrated that the only way to overcome these challenges is for everyone to stand shoulder-to-shoulder, which speaks of a global bayanihan.”
“[The Balikatan] emphasizes that as friends and allies, the Philippines and the United States will, in our collective capacity, safeguard international peace and security and ensure that territorial integrity and sovereignty are respected,” Bautista said.
The Balikatan exercises began a week after the state visit of US President Barack Obama to the Philippines as part of a four-nation Asian tour that mostly centered on the US support for Asia Pacific allies locked in territorial disputes with China.
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