Daily Tribune
A F-16V fighter jet stands by during a drill at Hualien Air Force base on 17 August 2022. In an interview with US broadcaster CBS that was aired on Sunday, US President Joe Biden was asked whether US troops would defend Taiwan, and replied "yes", if it were "an unprecedented attack". (Photo by SAM YEH / AFP)
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — United States servicemen began arriving Tuesday at Lumbia Air Base here, one of the nine Philippine military facilities designated under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), for joint training with Philippine troops focused on humanitarian assistance and disaster response.
Local media reported that a bus carrying US servicemen in civilian clothes entered Lumbia Air Base on Tuesday, March 10. The personnel are in Northern Mindanao to conduct training with the Army’s 4th Infantry Division on humanitarian assistance and disaster response (HADR) at the designated EDCA site.
Some of the US servicemen were also reportedly seen checking in at several downtown hotels, signaling the start of the scheduled joint training activities in the area.
Lumbia Air Base, the city’s former civilian airport, was later converted into a Philippine Air Force installation and designated as an EDCA site for joint activities between Philippine and US forces.
Maj. Gen. Michele Anayron, commander of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division, said the visiting troops are in Northern Mindanao to train with Philippine soldiers on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations.
Most of the training will take place at Lumbia Air Base, which under EDCA functions as a joint-use facility supporting disaster response and humanitarian missions, Anayron said.
“This training has nothing to do with the West Philippine Sea or the war in Iran. This is purely training,” Anayron said in a statement, addressing concerns that the presence of US troops could draw the area into ongoing geopolitical tensions.
He added that soldiers in Northern Mindanao rarely receive this type of specialized training, which is typically conducted by US forces in Luzon during the annual Balikatan exercises.
The 4th Infantry Division has previously hosted joint training with foreign troops. In the most recent exercise, soldiers from the Australian Defence Force trained for a month with the division’s troops in jungle warfare at the Kibaritan Training Complex, within the 46,000-hectare military reservation spanning the Bukidnon towns of Kalilangan, Talakag and Pangantucan.
