Balikatan exercises to begin in April

by Franco Jose c. Baroña ManilaTimes.net

THE Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) announced on Monday, February 6 that the 38th iteration of the annual Balikatan Exercises has been scheduled for this April.

"The AFP and the U.S. Armed Forces are once again holding the 38th iteration of the annual bilateral Balikatan exercises.

Although this is a bilateral activity, the AFP takes the lead in planning and execution, supported by the U.S. Armed Forces with other like-minded nations as observers," AFP spokesman Col. Medel Aguilar said in a statement.

comes to housing.”

“This is the next step in bringing the Housing Element’s vision to life,” said Rich Hillis, Director of Planning. “We take our responsibility to deliver on these commitments seriously, and I’m excited to begin this critical implementing work in lockstep with our partner agencies.”

“The Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development has worked closely with the Planning Department to develop policy objectives that reinforce its practices and programs that support the construction of new affordable housing, housing preservation, and community stabilization,” said Eric Shaw, Director at the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development. “We look forward to continuing our work in collaboration with the state and with our agency and community partners to accelerate delivery of San Francisco’s affordable housing pipeline.”

“Everyone knows San Francisco’s exceptional permitting timeline is a major hurdle to building more homes in the city,” said Jane Natoli, San Francisco Organizing Director of YIMBY Action.

“Mayor Breed’s executive order gets to the heart of that and other problems under our control and we applaud the efforts to streamline housing production.”

(SF Mayor’s Office Release)

Balikatan 38-2023 will result in the development of the AFP capability not only in the conduct of external defense operations but also in fulfilling its obligation in working with other countries in the region against terrorism and other threats," Aguilar added.

The number of personnel who will take part in this year's Balikatan to be held in the second week of April is still being finalized.

However, the AFP said the maneuvers will be held in areas under the Northern Luzon Command, the Visayas Command and the Western Command.

This year's Balikatan is projected to include field training composed of combined and live-fire exercises and military operations in urban terrain.

Balikatan is an annual exercise between the AFP and the U.S. Armed Forces' Indo-Pacific Command geared at enhancing both forces' interoperability.

Last year, 8,900 members of the AFP and the U.S. military joined the Balikatan, considered one of the largest-ever iterations of the Philippine-led annual exercise that took place across Luzon from March 28 to April 8, 2022.

At least 3,800 AFP members and 5,100 U.S. military personnel trained shoulder-to-shoulder.

They focused on maritime security, amphibious operations, live-fire training, urban operations, aviation operations, counterterrorism, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

Aguilar said the AFP is grateful for the support extended by Senators Francis Tolentino, Francis Escudero and Sherwin Gatchalian to implement the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement where the Philippines and U.S. both agreed on four new locations as EDCA sites.

"This manifestation of support is in line with our treaty obligation as contained in the Mutual Defense Treaty of 1951," he added.

Since the signing of EDCA in 2014, Aguilar said the agreement has continuously facilitated the conduct of military exercises and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) operations in support of the AFP mission.

"Likewise, with the threat of climate change, our partnership with modern and well-equipped countries such as the United States of America will develop the capability of our troops in executing HADR operations during natural calamities and disasters," Aguilar said.

"In addition to capability development, our engagement with a friend and a long-time ally also brings economic activities and opportunities that will benefit the people of the host local government units. This will further improve business confidence that will provide the economic stability that investors seek," he added.

The EDCA is a supplemental agreement to the previous Visiting Forces Agreement. It was signed by the Philippines and the U.S. on April 28, 2014.

The agreement allows the U.S. to rotate its troops in the Philippines for extended stays.

by Kristina Maralit ManilaTimes.net inflation rate... we have already taken some measures so that the supply will be greater and so that will bring the prices down but that will take a little time," Marcos said in a video statement on Tuesday, February 7.

PRESIDENT Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. maintained confidence that the inflation rate will go down with the drop in the prices of fuel and its byproducts and imported agriculture products. The Chief Executive issued the statement after the country's inflation rate for last January rose to 8.7 percent, a 14-year high.

It was the fastest recorded surge since November 2008, dislodging the 8.1 percent registered in December 2022.

"As I said, the importation of many of the agricultural products, which have been a large part of the (increase in)

"And my continuing estimate or forecast is that by – we can see the lowering of inflation by the second quarter of this year," he added, while further pointing out that steps taken by his administration to address the issue "have not yet gone through the system."

Citing the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) January 2023 World Economic Outlook Update, Marcos said high inflation is a global problem that will continue to be a challenge to all countries, but that he remains optimistic that "this is going to be as high as it's going to get" and vowed for the results of the government's interventions to be felt "down the road".

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) had said that the high inflation rate was mainly driven by increases in housing rentals, electricity and water rates, as well as in the prices of vegetables, milk, eggs, fruits and nuts.

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), meanwhile, noted that the government's economic cluster has identified measures meant to keep food price movements consistent with its inflation and food security objectives, with u PAGE 7