US military officers in PH for series of talks

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – Ranking United States military officers are in the country for a series of Mutual Defense Board-Security Engagement Board (MDB-SEB) talks.

The contingent from the US is led by Major General Gregg Sturdevant, chief of Strategic Planning Policy (J5) of US Pacific Command.

“Dumating sila dito para makipag-meeting execom [executive committee] para planuhin yung mga activities na gagawin next year,” Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin told reporters at Camp Aguinaldo, when asked to confirm about the visit of the US officials.

(“They arrived here for execom meeting to plan out next year’s activities,” Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin told reporters at Camp Aguinaldo, when asked to confirm about the visit of the US officials.)

Gazmin said the talks will tackle humanitarian activities and military drills between US and Philippines including Balikatan, which is usually planned one year ahead.

Both the delegates of the PH-US will participate in the talks at Camp Aguinaldo from Wednesday until Friday.

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