US to spend P3M for new war games in Zambales

The US military is spending P2.3 million on civil-military operations and another P1 million for donations in community outreach projects during the Talon Vision and Amphibious Landing Exercises (Phiblex), a US Marine spokesperson said.

Captain Burrell Parmer said the 15-day exercises will officially start on October 16.

Parmer said members of the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Bri-gade and the Philippine Navy began on Monday the operations in the village of San Juan in San Antonio, Zambales.

The contingent is putting up a multi-purpose building near the town’s public cemetery and has started giving free medical and dental services.

Parmer said the US military would also donate school supplies to the San Juan Elementary School.

The CMOs and outreach projects would be done in communities near the sites of the exercises. These are in Zambales, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija and Palawan, Parmer said.

The war games, which resumed in 1999 after the Senate’s approval of the Visiting Forces Agreement, aim to “increase readiness and continue professional relationship” between the armed forces of the two countries.

More than 5,000 US soldiers are participating in the training. An advance team of at least 500 US soldiers arrived last week. Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon