The Bantay Ceasefire failed to get a copy of the Terms of Reference (TOR) that would govern the conduct of the joint RP-US military exercise here but American and Filipino Army officials assured the MPC in a dialogue yesterday that the training will strictly be confined only within the 200-hectare military reservation.
Led by Oblate priest Bert Layson, chair of the Mindanao People’s Caucus, 15 Bantay Ceasefire members met Army’s 602nd Brigade Commander Col. Ruperto R. Pabustan, his Civilian Military Officer Capt. Perlito Dimabildo, US Army officials Maj. William Nagel and Capt. James Fussell in a one-hour dialogue about the conduct of the military exercise dubbed Balance Piston 06-02.
CAMP LUCERO, CARMEN, North Cotabato—The Bantay Ceasefire failed to get a copy of the Terms of Reference (TOR) that would govern the conduct of the joint RP-US military exercise here but American and Filipino Army officials assured the MPC in a dialogue yesterday that the training will strictly be confined only within the 200-hectare military reservation.
Led by Oblate priest Bert Layson, chair of the Mindanao People’s Caucus, 15 Bantay Ceasefire members met Army’s 602nd Brigade Commander Col. Ruperto R. Pabustan, his Civilian Military Officer Capt. Perlito Dimabildo, US Army officials Maj. William Nagel and Capt. James Fussell in a one-hour dialogue about the conduct of the military exercise dubbed Balance Piston 06-02. The Bantay Ceasefire is composed of community-based leaders monitoring the implementation of the truce between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
In 2004, the first joint RP-US military exercise in this camp was dubbed Balance Piston 04-01.
Invoking the significance of transparency, the Bantay Ceasefire delegation asked the Army officials to provide them a copy of the TOR, but to their surprise, the officers implementing Balance Piston 06-02 claimed they did not have a copy of the document that is supposed to govern the conduct of the exercise they were implementing.
Pabustan said: “It seems that the paper you are asking is a classified document so we still have to ask clearance from higher headquarters. Even I myself have not seen that. Maybe the Division (referring to the Army’s Sixth Infantry Division) and Manila have a copy (of the TOR).”
Nagel, on the other hand, said: “I’m not sure if the document you want is available” as he continued to explain that the agreement between the US and Philippine government on the conduct of the Balance Piston 06-02 revolves around the “training of Philippine Army on basic and advance rifle marksmanship, combat life saving techniques.”
As this developed, the Bantay Ceasefire, which is setting up a Balance Piston 06-02 Monitoring Center here said it would ask the Army’s Chief of Staff and the Visiting Forces Commission to furnish it a copy of the TOR to aid them in monitoring the exercise.
Nagel announced that the Balance Piston 06-02, which employs 30 American servicemen who would “teach” the soldiers of the Army 25th Infantry Battalion that have just been relieved from Davao del Sur, is only one among many initiatives of the US Army Pacific Command in the Philippines and 25 other countries, that include Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia, among others in the region.
He explained that the ongoing joint military exercises ran by the US Army’s Pacific Command are intended to “improve the maintenance of security in the pacific.”
Pabustan and Nagel also agreed that Bantay Ceasefire monitors the conduct of the exercise, saying they would inform the group of training activities where non-government organizations and journalists would be allowed to observe, though they emphasized that “not all is free for viewing by the public because some exercises are dangerous.”
Pabustan also agreed to Fr. Layson’s suggestion that they coordinate the Balance Piston 06-02 with other armed groups, especially the MILF, which claims to have forces around the vicinity of Camp Lucero.
He said: “We will closely coordinate with the Joint Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities. I would like the peace process to succeed and not to be derailed. This training should not affect the peace process in Mindanao.”
Nagel also assured the MPC and the Bantay Ceasefire that none of his men will ever be involved in a case similar to the alleged gang-rape that four American soldiers at Subic Bay in Olongapo City have been charged of.
He said: “Obviously, the circumstances (in Olongapo and Carmen) are different. I will give you my personal assurance that it will not happen here. My soldiers are more matured and responsible. I will try to make them busy so they are already tired at night.”
Pabustan also announced that during duration of the military exercise, they will hold two medical and dental missions among the communities in this municipality. It will only be during these two occasions that Balance Piston 06-02 participants would be able to get out of the 200-hectare camp, he said.
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