28 RP-US WAR GAMES SET IN 2005

Anti-terror allies the Philippines and the United States are to undertake 28 joint military exercises this year, a Philippine military spokesman said yesterday.

Twenty exercises would be combined maneuvers while the rest would focus on counter-narcotics and training for light reaction units, Lt. Col. Buenaventura Pascual said. Two exercises were already in progress, one in the northern Philippines and one in Davao City for counter-narcotics training, he said. Both are set to end on Feb. 18.

Capt. Dennis Williams, US Pacific Command liaison officer to Manila, said the scheduled exercises were subject to availability of resources from both countries. Officials had earlier said that US relief operations in tsunami-hit countries in Asia could affect scheduled military exercises in the Philippines.

"Last year, a few planned exercises were canceled due to... limits on available resources resulting from the Middle East operations and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations," Williams said.

The Philippines is a staunch ally of the US-led war on terrorism. Small groups of US forces have been training Filipino soldiers against al-Qaeda-linked militants in Mindanao since 2001. — AFP