(6 May 2024)
RESTRICTIONS SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ilocos Norte province - 6 May 2024
1. Various of U.S. Black Hawk helicopters landing at Paredes Air Station
2. U.S. and Philippine Marines running beside helicopter
3. U.S. troops marching with a Chinook helicopter at the background
4. U.S. Chinook helicopter getting ready to take off
5. Helicopter taking off
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Itbayat Batanes - 6 May 2024
6. Various of U.S. and Filipino troopers inside helicopter
7. U.S. Marine getting off black hawk helicopter
8. SOUNDBITE (English) 1st Lieutenant Annie Pentaleri, U.S. Marine Corps:
“We are always training as US Marines. We are always ready for when our nation calls us. So right now in the Philippines, we are just trying to help establish a relationship with our Philippine counterpart and now we are here training shoulder to shoulder.”
9. Chinook Helicopter landing
10. Various of U.S. and Philippine troops at Itabaya Batanes airport
11. SOUNDBITE (English) 1st Lieutenant Annie Pentaleri, U.S. Marine Corps:
“Right now, the objective is just to further support the Philippine Marine corps archipelagic coastal defense concept. We have a platoon of Philippine Marines here with us that are U.S. Marines are training alongside and they are just sharing skills.”
12. Various of U.S. and Philippine troops
13. Various of Itbayat Airport sign
STORYLINE:
U.S. Marines and their Filipino counterparts darted out of Black Hawk helicopters during combat drills Monday in the Philippines’ northernmost island town along the strategic Bashi Channel off southern Taiwan.
The show of allied battle readiness in Itbayat in Batanes province is part of annual military exercises that started last month, dubbed Balikatan, Tagalog for “shoulder-to-shoulder,” and involving more than 16,000 American and Philippine military personnel.
This year's exercises by the longtime treaty allies - the largest yet - are meant to deter possible aggression.
They come against the backdrop of China’s increasingly assertive actions in the disputed South China Sea, where Chinese and Philippine coast guards and accompanying ships have had several increasingly tense faceoffs since last year.
More than 250 French and Australian forces are also participating, along with observers from several allied and security partner nations, led by Japan and European nations.
The drills, which began April 22, end later this week.
In Monday's mock battle scenario, American and Filipino forces took positions at the airfield, ringed by low-lying hills, as three Army CH-47 Chinook helicopters landed to deliver combat supplies.
Marine 1st Lt. Annie Pentaleri said aerial combat reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance drills were also planned in the far-flung region.
“The objective is just to further support the Philippine Marine corps archipelagic coastal defense concept,” Pentaleri added.
The Associated Press was among a small group of journalists invited to attend the manoeuvres.
Washington and Manila say the drills are not directed at any country and are crucial for improving the response to emergencies in the Philippines, one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.
However, this year's drills focus on territorial defense and are being staged mainly in two of the most sensitive fault lines in the regional rivalry between China and the United States: the disputed South China Sea and the Bashi Channel.
China considers Taiwan a part of its territory, to be annexed by force if necessary.
AP video shot by Aaron Favila and Jim Gomez
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