President Marcos is looking forward to more military exercises with allied countries as the military exercises between the Philippines and the United States, as well as other foreign armies, ended on Friday, May 10, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said.

“He (Marcos) extends his congratulations to both armed forces and all those who participated for the successful conduct of this year's exercise and he looks forward to next year's exercise which will be, I believe, a full battle simulation which will put to the test the combined capabilities in the most realistic of scenarios possible with safety in mind," said Teodoro in his speech.

“The President no less is waiting for an extensive debrief of our successes, but more so, of our gaps and what we need to fill in capabilities, in interoperability, in human resources capabilities too and in sustainment which is extremely important for the continuation of bilateral and multilateral cooperation going forward,” he added.

This year’s Balikatan exercises are considered the biggest and were observed by at least 14 countries.

Among the highlights are the joint sail of Philippine, US and French naval ships within the country’s exclusive Economic Zone, the firing of the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) at mock targets in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), and conduct of humanitarian missions in some parts of the country.

The Balikatan exercises, which started on April 22, ended in maritime strike exercises that involved the sinking of an oil tanker of the Philippine Navy.

Increased pressure

Teodoro said this year’s Balikatan compelled Philippine troops to get out of their comfort zones and give out their best for various war games activities.

“I have told the Armed Forces of the Philippines that we will increasing the pressure continuously for them to evolve as soon as possible into a multi-threat multi-theater operating armed force consistent with the archipelagic doctrine nature of our country and the necessity for defending it in a proactive and not a passive manner,” said Teodoro.

“In the same vein, exercises such as this should be continued because for us men who are consigned to kitchen at home, we know the worst thing in a kitchen is dull knives and a good chef hones the knife every day. This is what we should do and this is what we are going to do singularly, bilaterally and multilaterally,” he added.

Amid malign attempts

Teodoro stressed that the Balikatan only emphasized that there is no stopping the Philippines and other allied countries to ensure that rules-based international order is implemented in the West Philippine Sea.

He issued the statement amid the new controversy involving the alleged agreement between Philippine military officials and China, through its diplomat in the Manila Embassy, for a new model in the conduct of resupply missions in the West Philippine Sea.

Teodoro and other top defense and security officials denied China’s claim and called it fabricated stories aimed at diverting the issue away from the what is happening in the West Philippine Sea, including the harassment using high-pressure water cannon on Philippine vessels and the alleged China’ attempt to build a structure near the Pag-asa Island.

“This is the way like minded nations in this part of the world in the Indo-Pacific should go and no amount of malign or for lack of a better term perverse attempts to subvert our goal for a free and open Indo-Pacific and rules-based international order will stop our shared advance towards upholding this international accepted norms come what may,” said Teodoro.

“So I congratulate not only those who participated but the Government of the United States, the Government of Australia, the Government of France. We welcome more multilateral cooperative activities and maritime cooperative activities.”

“We thank our civilian partners, the coast guard and the Philippine National Police whose assistance was vital and we thank the local communities who will continue to welcome us because our national pride, territorial integrity and dignity are non-negotiables for each and every Filipino,” he added.

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