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Philippines plan military exercises in insurgency hotbeds
Manila (AFP) Feb 4, 2009 Communist rebels accused the Philippines government Wednesday of using military exercises with the US as a front for attacking insurgents who have been waging a decades-old Maoist campaign. About 6,000 US troops will join 2,500 Filipino soldiers in the manoeuvres from April 16 to 28. The main part will take place at Filipino military bases north and south of Manila, said Major Ramon Zagala, the Filipino spokesman for the annual Balikatan (Shoulder to Shoulder) exercises. He added that US military medics and engineers would also conduct clinics and build schools and other basic infrastructure in the Bicol region southeast of Manila and the adjacent Masbate island group. Both areas are known to be hotbeds for the Communist Party of the Philippines' New People's Army (NPA) which has been waging a 40-year rebellion. The move has drawn condemnation from the party and other leftist groups. The military exercises "signal stepped-up US military intervention and direct involvement of US troops in the (Armed Forces of the Philippines') counter-revolutionary war against the New People's Army", the communist party said in a statement. It said the deployment would "pave the way for the US to gain more access to the NPA's areas of operation". A separate NPA statement warned it "will not tolerate violations that will be committed by any US(-Philippines) troops" in these areas. A coalition of Bicol-based leftist groups calling themselves "Ban Balikatan" alleged that a US naval officer visited the region's hospitals last month to check about facilities and experts on bone injuries. "This is the usual branch of medicine that treats injuries from combat operations," it added. Small groups of US Special Forces troops are already based in the southern Philippines, where they provide training and intelligence data to Filipino troops fighting Islamic militants. The Philippine constitution bars a combat role for foreign forces in Filipino territory. Colonel Rodolfo Santiago, a Filipino liaison officer for the manoeuvres, told reporters the US forces assigned to Bicol "would be limited to doing medical and engineering works". A separate Filipino military force will be deployed in Bicol to provide security to the US forces there, he added.
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