PHL-US Marine training will not affect Spratlys issue — official

The security situation in the disputed Spratly Islands will not be affected by the upcoming training between American forces and Filipino soldiers in the West Philippine Sea (also South China Sea), a ranking military official from the Philippines said Monday. “I don’t think this will have an adverse implication on the security situation in the region," said Brig. Gen. Eugene Clemen. “We have been doing this exercise before and I think this will not affect the current setup." Clemen, the vice commander of the Philippine Marine Corps, is the exercise director of the RP-US Amphibious Landing Exercise (Phiblex) on the Philippine side. His US counterpart, Brig. Gen. Craig Timberlake, is the commander of the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade. About 2,000 US Marines will be joining some 1,000 Philippine Marines in the activity, which opened Oct. 17 and will run until Oct. 28. Among the activities lined up for the training is the boat raid, which will be conducted on Oct. 27 in West Philippine Sea off Puerto Princesa City in Palawan province. Clemen made sure that the boat raid will be held within Philippine territory. “We will not be going out of our territory so nobody could question that," he said. Apart from the West Philippine Sea, other venues of the exercises are Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija; Crow Valley in Tarlac; the Marine Base in Ternate, Cavite; the Naval Station San Miguel in San Antonio, Zambales; and Clark Air Base in Pampanga. The two forces are also going to conduct medical and civic action programs in Puerto Princesa City. Clemen said the training is not a statement against other claimant countries in the Spratlys, especially China, which has recently increased its military posturing to beef up its claim. “I think the exercise per se is not intended to address any security question in the South China Sea. We are just doing this yearly and we have troops in Palawan," he said. The Spratlys — a chain of islands and islets in the West Philippine Sea that are rich in oil and mineral deposits — are being claim in part or in whole by the Philippines, China, Taiwan, Malaysian, Brunei and Vietnam. — KBK, GMA News