CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — The activities of U.S. troops inside Lumbia Air Base will be confined to humanitarian assistance, disaster response, joint exercises and civic action in the outskirts of upper Lumbia barangays, while military exercises will be carried out at the Kibaritan Training Complex in Bukidnon, a ranking member of the city council announced on Monday.

Councilor Roger Abaday, chairman of the committee on public order, said in a report during the plenary session that the joint humanitarian and disaster response activities will involve the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Department (CDRRMD), particularly the city’s Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) unit.

He said joint military exercises will be conducted at the Kibaritan Training Complex, a 46,000-hectare military reservation spanning the Bukidnon towns of Kalilangan, Talakag and Pangantucan.

Last year, troops from the Australian Defence Force trained for a month with soldiers of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division in jungle warfare at the same complex.

Air Force Colonel Anselmo Ty, commander of the 590th Air Group, also announced during Monday’s flag-raising ceremony at City Hall that the arrival of 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 late Friday at Gate 6 of Port Macabalan.

The docking is part of a broader and 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 two-week exercise focusing on territorial defense, which will include simulations of coastal defense and troop deployment.

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

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

He said the two-week exercise, the first of its kind in Mindanao, aims to provide Army troops with basic training in coordinating with allied forces in case of “any eventuality.”

U.S. servicemen were also reportedly seen checking in at several hotels in downtown Cagayan de Oro, 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 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 said it has previously hosted joint training activities with foreign troops.