{"id":22613,"date":"2018-05-07T19:26:01","date_gmt":"2018-05-07T19:26:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/05\/07\/us-philippines-launch-largest-military-drills-under-duterte\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T05:28:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T05:28:07","slug":"us-philippines-launch-largest-military-drills-under-duterte","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2018\/05\/07\/us-philippines-launch-largest-military-drills-under-duterte\/","title":{"rendered":"US, Philippines launch largest military drills under Duterte"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">MANILA, Philippines \u2014 U.S. and Philippine forces on Monday began their largest <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2017\/04\/17\/us-philippines-to-conduct-military-drills-amid-tensions-with-duterte\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">annual military exercises<\/a> since President Rodrigo Duterte came to power and vowed to scale down America\u2019s military presence in the country as he sought <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2017\/03\/19\/duterte-philippines-can-t-stop-china-moves-in-disputed-sea\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">closer ties with China<\/a> and Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Balikatan exercises opened with a ceremony at the main Philippine military camp in Manila, and will to feature about 8,000 American and Filipino personnel and small contingents from Japan and Australia. American and Philippine officials praised the long treaty alliance between the U.S. and its former Southeast Asian colony and then linked arms in a show of solidarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The exercises are \u201cjust one of many embodiments of our robust relationship,\u201d U.S. Ambassador Sung Kim said. The drills \u201cwill continue to reinforce the deep and lasting commitment between our two countries for a peaceful and secure region.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/16615103784_d12221396e_b.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-47043\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/16615103784_d12221396e_b.jpg.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/16615103784_d12221396e_b.jpg.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/16615103784_d12221396e_b.jpg.jpg?resize=768,512 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Marines exit an Amphibious Assault Vehicle carrying Philippine and U.S. Marines during a bilateral amphibious landing on North Beach at the Naval Education Training Center on April 21, 2015, as part of exercise Balikatan 2015. (Cpl. Matthew J. Bragg\/Marine Corps)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After taking power in 2016, Duterte vowed to scale back the presence of U.S. troops involved in counterterrorism training in the country\u2019s south and once threatened to end the annual drills with American forces. The volatile leader, who has been critical of U.S. security policies, has taken steps to revive ties with China that had been strained under his predecessor over longstanding territorial conflicts in the South China Sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2016\/10\/04\/philippine-leader-duterte-tells-obama-you-can-go-to-hell-warns-of-breakup-with-u-s\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">Duterte\u2019s animosity with Washington<\/a> was partly ignited by U.S. government condemnation of his deadly campaign against illegal drugs, though that criticism has eased <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2017\/04\/30\/philippines-says-trump-called-duterte-to-affirm-alliance\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">under President Donald Trump<\/a>. A leaked Philippine transcript of a call between the two leaders last year showed Trump praising Duterte\u2019s anti-drug efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Though this year\u2019s Balikatan exercises will be the largest under Duterte, Philippine officials stressed they\u2019re not aimed at China, but at the threat of urban terrorism and other man-made crises and natural disasters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition to amphibious beach landings, live-fire maneuvers and disaster-response scenarios, the exercises will involve combat drills in mock urban settings to train special forces in battling terrorists in cities as they did during the Islamic State group-linked siege on southern Marawi city last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe want both our forces to learn from our great and hard-earned experience in our past battles like Marawi,\u201d said Marine Lt. Gen. Emmanuel Salamat, who leads the Philippine contingent. \u201cWe just want to help each other to be able to effectively combat future scenarios.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"599\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP18127191118712.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-47046\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP18127191118712.jpg.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP18127191118712.jpg.jpg?resize=300,175 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP18127191118712.jpg.jpg?resize=768,449 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, center, U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim, second left, Philippine Armed Forces Chief Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez, second right, Lt. Gen. Lawrence Nicholson, right, commander of the 3rd U.S. Marine Expeditionary Forces, and Northern Luzon commander Lt. Gen. Emmanuel Salamat link arms during the opening ceremony of the Joint U.S.-Philippines military exercise dubbed &#8220;Balikatan 34-2018&#8221; Monday, May 7, 2018 at Camp Aguinaldo in suburban Quezon city, northeast of Manila, Philippines. (Bullit MarquezAP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hundreds of Filipino militants and allied foreign fighters seized the business district and residential areas of lakeside Marawi on May 23 last year, occupying buildings and homes and forcing hundreds of thousands of residents to flee to safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite initial difficulty because of their unfamiliarity with urban warfare, Filipino troops quelled the insurrection with airstrikes, artillery fire and ground assaults after five months with the help of U.S. and Australian surveillance aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The siege left more than 1,100 people dead, mostly militant gunmen, including the Islamic State group\u2019s Southeast Asian leader and top Asian militant suspect Isnilon Hapilon. The attack deepened fears among Asian and Western governments that the group was bringing its violent extremism to Asia after facing major battle defeats in Syria and Iraq.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOur job is to be ready whether that threat is man-made or whether that threat is mother nature,\u201d Marine Lt. Gen. Lawrence Nicholson said. \u201cWe have to be ready to respond.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>U.S. and Philippine forces on Monday began their largest annual military exercises since President Rodrigo Duterte came to power and vowed to scale down America\u2019s military presence in the country as he sought closer ties with China and Russia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":47036,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":70,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[100,12,25,70],"tags":[],"coauthors":[588],"class_list":["post-22613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-news","category-newsletters","category-your-army"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"7TR2G65EXNAZNGLJLG5KIT4J6M","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-military\/2018\/05\/07\/us-philippines-launch-largest-military-drills-under-duterte\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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military exercises since President Rodrigo Duterte came to power and vowed to scale down America\u2019s military presence in the country as he sought closer ties with China and Russia.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2018\/05\/07\/us-philippines-launch-largest-military-drills-under-duterte\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Army Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-05-07T19:26:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T05:28:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jim Gomez, The Associated Press\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jim Gomez, The Associated Press\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" 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