Exercise Balikatan 2002

           Military Units Civil-Military Operations Task Force Facilities Edwin Andrews Air Force Base Camp Navarro Camp Malagutay Basilan Island References Navy NewsStand 28 Feb 2005 Army News 08 Mar 2005 Balikatan Shouldering the Load Together The Balikatan series is an annual event aimed at improving RP-US combined planning, combat readiness, and interoperability while enhancing security relations and demonstrating US resolve to support the Republic of the Philippines against external aggression. Balikatan is conducted to meet RP-US obligations under the Mutual Defense Treaty and to fulfill RP-US mutual training and readiness requirements. The Phillipine Constitution does not allow long-term basing by another country in the Philippines. The last of the US military bases at Subic and Clark were closed in the early 1990s. The first Balikatan exercise was conducted in 1991. In 1995 the Philippines ended Balikatan because of a dispute over the Visiting Forces Agreement. That agreement gives the United States jurisdiction over crimes committed by military personnel while on duty in a foreign country. It was reinstated in May 1999 despite protests from the Catholic Church and other anti-U.S. elements in the Philippines. The Visiting Forces Agreement provided for expanded military cooperation after coming int...