Armed Forces chief of Staff General Andres Centino, Department of National Defense Officer in Charge USEC Carlito Galvez, United States Ambassador to the Philippine Marykay Carlson OFFICIALLY ended the 38th Balikatan Exercise 2023.
According to AFP chief Gen Andres Centino, the recently concluded joint Balikatan exercise was a great success, especially for the military because they learned a lot from the exercises that were laid out and the modern and innovative war tools.
“We had a very successful balikatan this year, I said earlier a lot of firsts, there are many new activities that we included in our almost three-week exercise, and it was also the first time that we had multiple venues, there are so many places where we conducted our exercise,’ said Gen Centino.
“The experience is good because its a top level quality training because maybe there is a disadvantage in the equipment but we have a lot of experience that we can share also but I think overall in the exchange we benefited from all these activities,” said Gen Centino.
Pahayag naman ni Maj. Gen. Marvin Licudine, direktor ng Balikatan Exercise, nakatulong ang serye ng mga drill upang mapalakas ang security cooperation at interoperability ng Pilipinas at Estados Unidos bilang magkaalyadong bansa.
Sa pamamagitan umano ng ng nasabing war exercises ay napalakas ang kakayahan ng kasundaluhan, capability at domain awareness, maritime and territorial defense gayundin humanitarian assistance and disaster response.
‘In the past few years, we have seen more threats to the region than we have in the past few decades combined. These include challenges to the rules-based international order via provocations in the South China Sea, as well as global issues like climate change, environmental degradation, and water scarcity, pahayag naman ni Ambassador MaryKay Carlson.
Sabi pa ng US envoy, lubhang mahalaga ang sabayang pagsasanay sa pagitan ng US at Philippine Armed Forces bunsod na rin ng mga pagbabago at mga kasalukuyang banta sa rehiyon.
Mariing pahayag pa ni Amb Carlson, The Philippines is our oldest treaty ally in East Asia and largest recipient of security assistance in East Asia, and the U.S-Philippine alliance plays an irreplaceable role in addressing these threats. When you look at Southeast Asia, from geography to demographics to the economy, you can see that what happens in the Philippines is critical to what happens in the Indo-Pacific and the world.
Our shared resolve to address threats together, embodied in our treaty alliance, is just one pillar in the US-Philippine relationship. We are also partners, working together to address challenges like job creation, technological innovation, and environmental
The 2023 Balikatan started on April 11 and formally ended yesterday April 28 where more than 17,000 soldiers from the Philippines and the United States participated.
