[필리핀]

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the United States Armed Forces have “grown closer together” as they conclude the 37th iteration of the Balikatan Exercises at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City on Friday, April 8, Manila Bulletin reported.

Around 8,900 Filipino and American service members trained shoulder-to-shoulder from the northern coast of Luzon to Palawan on March 28 in what was dubbed the biggest version of the Philippine-led war games. “This year’s Balikatan is a testament to the resiliency of the Philippines-United States alliance as we remain strong partners even after the various challenges we have encountered in the past two years,” said General Andres Centino, AFP Chief of Staff. During the course of the two-week exercises, the participating soldiers worked on enhancing their interoperability in maritime security, amphibious operations, live-fire training, urban operations, aviation operations, counterterrorism, humanitarian assistance, and disaster response.

Brigadier General Joseph Clearfield, US Exercise Director representative and deputy commander of the US Marine Corps Forces Pacific, said the completion of Balikatan 2022 was a “clear example” of both the Philippines and US militaries’ .