BAGUIO CITY, Philippines – Filipino and American troops are preparing for what officials are, yet again, dubbing the “biggest” iteration of the bilateral war games.
The highlight of next year’s Balikatan 2025? A “rehearsal” of how the two militaries would defend the Philippines.
“This is a bold and comprehensive rehearsal of the concept plan for the mutual defense of the Republic [of the Philippines], as well as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief,” said Indo-Pacific Command (Indopacom) chief Admiral Samuel Paparo said Thursday, August 29, following a meeting with Armed Forces of the Philippine (AFP) chief General Romeo Brawner Jr. at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA).
Paparo is in the Philippines for the annual Mutual Defense Board-Security Engagement Board meeting. The 4-star American general also attended his command’s International Military Law and Operations Conference in Manila, and visited the Basa Air Base in Pampanga, one of nine sites where the Philippines has granted American boots access.
While the details of the “rehearsal” will have to be hashed out by Paparo and Brawner’s subordinates, Philippine Defense Chief Gilberto Teodoro Jr. earlier described the planned exercise as a “full-scale battle simulation.”
“This will be the largest Balikatan we’ve ever done, and we’ll be doing it jointly, under joint and combined command and control, across all of the services,” added Paparo.
Talk — and the follow-through — of increased military cooperation between the treaty-allies come as the Philippines deals with a China that’s growing more and more aggressively asserting its sovereignty claims, particularly in waters that are part of the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
The yearly war games between the Philippines and its former colonizer, the United States, have steadily grown in both scale and ambition, particularly in the two iterations under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
The 2023 and 2024 war games were both the “biggest” in terms of the number of troops, but also in the complexity of drills. From April to May 2024, over 16,000 Filipino and American soldiers engaged in drills across the archipelago — from the Northern Luzon Command (NOLCOM), the Western Command (WESCOM), and the Southern Luzon Command’s areas of operation.
Two of those commands — NOLCOM AND WESCOM — cover areas where tensions in the region are rising. The Palawan-based WESCOM is responsible for most of the West Philippine Sea, while NOLCOM oversees features like the China-controlled Scarborough Shoal and waters that separate the Philippines’ northernmost towns from the Taiwan Strait.
Through the years, it’s also started to incorporate a modest contingent of Australia’s military, with whom the Philippines has a military exchange agreement with. The 2024 edition included a joint sail of the Philippine, US, and French navies in the West Philippine Sea.
Brawner said he looks forward to the Japan Self-Defense Force possibly joining the exercise once the Philippine Senate and Japanese Diet ratifies the Philippines and Japan’s Reciprocal Access Agreement.
The point of Balikatan is to practice interoperability or the ability of the US and Philippine militaries to work together. And there’s the projection of interoperability, also as a means to deter threats to the Philippines.
Aspirations for a bigger Balikatan, or for bigger versions of the many other joint military exercises that the US and Philippines hold, is backdropped by shifts in both militaries.
For the Philippines, it’s the never-ending quest to finally “transform” the AFP into a “world-class” force. For the US, it means shifting the “whole shape of the entire force…towards multi-domain [capabilities],” according to Paparo.
“That is the ability of all formations to affect events in all domains. And this is the future way of war,” he told reporters in Baguio City.
The Philippine military’s future includes the ongoing shift of focus to external defense, after years of fixating on threats from within. It’s meant tweaking its acquisition list — dubbed “Re-Horizon 3” — to better reflect that shift in focus.
“One of the objectives…is for us to transform the AFP in its current state to a world-class armed force. And with that comes the capability advancement that we want to achieve. Part of that advancement is trying to get in the latest weapon systems that are out there, enough for us to develop a deterrent,” said Brawner of the months-long stay of the US’ Mid-Range Capability (MRC) missile system in Luzon.
The MRC was sent to Luzon at the beginning of Balikatan, just as the India-made BrahMos missile system was finally delivered to the Philippines. The MRC system is still in the Philippines, but is reportedly set to leave in September.
“We are wanting to get more of the latest weapon systems, that includes the mid-range capability. While we don’t have them yet, just like what we did with the Stingers, with the Javelins, we start training already, even if we don’t have them in our inventory,” said Brawner.
Yet for all the talk of military cooperation, interoperability, and deterrence, the Philippines still contends with a growing problem in the West Philippine Sea: China and its expansionist ambitions.
On August 28, during US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan’s visit to China, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned the US against “[using] bilateral treaties as an excuse to undermine China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, nor should it support or condone the Philippines’ actions of infringement.”
In August alone, the Philippines reported at least six instances of Chinese harassment, both at sea and in the area, in the West Philippine Sea. The US, in an almost routinary act, reiterated that the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) covers Philippine vessels and aircraft — including those of the Coast Guard — in the South China Sea.
Thus far, we’ve not seen the MDT in action.
Paparo, asked on August 27 about the possibility of the US escorting Philippine vessels in missions to the West Philippine Sea, said it was an “entirely reasonable option within our Mutual Defense Treaty.” Brawner said the Philippines would “exhaust” all options first before calling on the US for help.
The Philippines and the United States in May 2023 agreed on Bilateral Defense Guidelines meant to “modernize” the two countries’ bilateral alliance.
Both military generals were careful to distance themselves from renewed talk to “revise” the MDT, in part to define an “armed attack” in clearer terms.
“I think that armed attack is not a legal definition, necessarily. I think it’s a diplomatic definition. General Brawner and I are in uniform, and we are instruments of policy, and not the makers of policy. My job is to prepare options, if so called. And number two, I’m an instrument of the treaty,” said Paparo.
“We believe that the treaty has to be dynamic as well. But, then again, we would like to emphasize that this is a political matter that has to be settled by our political leadership,” said Brawner.
There’s a wealth of superlatives and adjectives, from soldiers, diplomats, and politicians, in describing Philippine-US bilateral ties. Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo has said that ties are on “hyperdrive.”
Paparo, on Thursday, following a meeting with young PMA cadets, said the “future is bright” for bilateral ties. “The hard work is ahead. We’re living in an increasingly disordered and chaotic world. And we’re meeting it with an alliance that’s stronger than ever,” he added.
It’s a promise that’ll be put to the test, as China’s long shadow looms over the West Philippine Sea. – Rappler.com
