PAF: U.S. troops’ stay at Lumbia Air Base temporary

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — The presence of U.S. troops inside Lumbia Air Base is temporary and part of EDCA, fully coordinated with the military and the local government unit, an official of the Philippine Air Force declared on Monday.

Air Force Col. Anselmo Ty, commander of the 590th Air Group at Lumbia Air Base, announced during Monday’s flag-raising ceremony at City Hall that the arrival of the U.S. troops is in connection with the ongoing Balikatan exercises involving the U.S. military and the Philippine Army in Mindanao.

He said the stay of the U.S. troops will last until April 1 and has nothing to do with the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.

Ty issued the statement after a U.S. Navy logistics ship docked at Gate 6 of Port Macabalan late Saturday afternoon.

This docking is part of a broader, recently increasing U.S. military presence and planned infrastructure developments, including new naval base projects in Misamis Oriental aimed at strengthening defense capabilities in Northern Mindanao.

The U.S. and Philippine armies will conduct a week-long military exercise focusing on territorial defense, which will include simulations of coastal defense and deployment.

Maj. Gen. Michele Anayron, commanding general of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division, earlier said that a company-sized U.S. Army unit arrived on Tuesday at Lumbia Air Base — one of the nine Philippine military facilities designated under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) — for the yearly Balikatan joint training with Philippine troops focused on humanitarian assistance and disaster response.

“The joint naval training will be conducted at Macabalan Bay simulating coastal landing,” he said in a statement.

He said the two-week exercise, which is the first in Mindanao, is aimed at providing Army troops basic training in coordinating with allied forces in case of “any eventuality.”

Lumbia Air Base, the former civilian airport of the city, was later converted into a Philippine Air Force installation and designated as an EDCA site for joint activities between Philippine and U.S. forces.

Anayron said the visiting troops are in Northern Mindanao to conduct training with Philippine soldiers on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) operations.

“This training has nothing to do with the West Philippine Sea or the war in Iran. This is purely training,” he said.

He was reacting to concerns that the presence of U.S. 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 U.S. forces in Luzon during the annual Balikatan exercises.

The 4th Infantry Division has previously hosted joint training with foreign troops.

Last year, troops from the Australian Defence Force trained for a month with soldiers of the 4th Infantry Division in jungle warfare at the Kibaritan Training Complex, a 46,000-hectare military reservation spanning the Bukidnon towns of Kalilangan, Talakag, and Pangantucan.