Powell to discuss anti-terrorism drive

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell will discuss with President Gloria Arroyo at a meeting in Manila on August 3 the deployment of a large contingent of U.S. troops for a nine-month joint counter-terrorism exercise in various parts of the Philippines, a senior official said.

Powell will be in Manila after an eight-day Asian tour, which includes attendance at the Association of South-east Asian Nations' (Asean) foreign ministers' meeting in Brunei from July 28 to 31, and the Asean Regional Forum, also in Brunei, from August 1 to 3.

"The meeting of the U.S. Secretary of State and President Arroyo will firm up the details of the next U.S.-Philippine joint exercises," said press Secretary Ignacio Bunye.

"Of course, matters of mutual interest would be discussed to include the status and the way ahead for continuing the robust relationship between the U.S. government and the Philippine government and its respective militaries," said Philippine Defence Secretary Angelo Reyes.

"We are talking about expanding the already robust cooperation of the armed forces of the Philippines and the U.S. armed forces," Reyes noted.

At the same time, Arroyo and Powell will discuss the U.S.-proposed Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA), which is being worked out by the executive department and the foreign affairs office of the U.S. and the Philippine government.

Hopefully, it will be passed just before the start of the nine-month joint exercises starting October, Reyes said.

He added that the MLSA will not lead to the re-establishment of permanent U.S. bases in the Philippines, contrary to the claims of former Foreign Secretary, Teofisto Guingona, and several militant leftist groups.

The MLSA has been conceived only to facilitate logistical arrangements for carrying out specific activities such as military exercises, not to pave the way for a long-term U.S. military presence in the country, said Reyes.

He pointed out that the MLSA is a low-level accord that doesn't impinge on the constitution, especially with the long-term presence of foreign troops on Philippine soil.

The nine-month training package will involve thousands of Filipino soldiers and a still undetermined number of American soldiers, many of whom have taken part in the six-month training exercise in the southern Philippines from February to end of July this year, said Armed Forces Chief of Staff, General Roy Cimatu.

"Six months will not be enough because of the large number of troops and units involved in the second phase of the U.S.-Philippine joint exercises," said Gen. Cimatu.

The training programme for this period includes night navigation training in Mactan, Cebu, central Philippines; training in equippage of two light reaction companies in Fort Magsaysa in Nueva Ecija, central Luzon; training of eight army battalions in Zamboanga City, southern Philippines; intelligence fusion training, also in Zamboanga city; and a classroom-type of preparation training at the southern command headquarters in Zamboanga City.

The war games were first aimed at crushing the Abu Sayyaf Group, but despite the declaration that the group is now a spent force, the U.S. and the Philippines have agreed to go on with their joint military exercises.

Gen. Cimatu and U.S. Pacific forces commander, Admiral Thomas Fargo, finalised the details of the new war games at a meeting in Hawaii last month. "Some of these activities might start ahead of schedule, earlier than October," said military public information chief, Lt. Col. Danilo Servando.

There is a transition period, from the end of this month to October, in which various joint military exercises will be held.

Some 300 of the 1,000 U.S. troops deployed in the southern Philippines will be left behind by the end of this month.