BRIG. Gen. Marvin Licudine yesterday declared the Balikatan exercise between Filipino and American forces a success despite several challenges, mainly on the sheer number of participants, which is the highest ever.
Licudine, Balikatan exercise director on the Philippine side, made the remarks a day before the formal closing of this year’s event at the AFP general headquarters at Camp Aguinaldo.
“I believe we have achieved all the exercise goals of Balikatan exercises, that is achieving the interoperability between the combined forces of the Philippines and the US and different services that includes the Army, Navy and the Air Force and the special operations forces,” Licudine said.
This year’s Balikatan, which started last April 11, is the largest ever since the inception of the exercise in the 1990s, with some 17,600 troops from both sides taking part.
The highlight of this year’s event was the first ever ship sinking exercise that was witnessed by President Marcos Jr. off San Antonio, Zambales last Wednesday. Ground, air and naval assets of the two forces showcased their firepower in sinking an “enemy ship.”
“I would say that the AFP and the US (armed forces) achieved the goals of the exercise excellently with probably minor adjustments in the future,” said Licudine, who heads the AFP’s Education, Training, and Doctrine Command.
“There were a lot of lessons learned that we gained here, particularly in a coordinative, partnered, joint command relations with the US. It’s a new idea that was tested with the partnered, coordinative leadership between the two joint task force, the Philippine task force and the US task force,” said Licudine, adding: “Also on the sustainability of the logistics that we need to improve upon, also on our communications and also on cyber defense.”
Licudine said this year’s Balikatan was “difficult to manage,” noting it’s the largest exercise in terms of the number of participants. “But we went over the challenges of managing everything (during) every exercise that we did,” he said.
As of yesterday, Licudine said the two sides were wrapping some activities, including humanitarian civic action projects in Antique, Aurora and Ilocos Norte.
As to the actual field training exercise, Licudine said: “There were some that have to finish today. Probably by this time (around 1:30 am yesterday), everything is finished already.”
Asked if he is recommending a similar intensity or larger Balikatan for next year, Licudine said: “I would say that it would depend on the future planners of the Balikatan exercise for next year because in every Balikatan, there would be objectives and goals that we want to achieve, both our armed forces.”
