AFP to assess all joint war games with the US
The Armed Forces of the Philippine (AFP) is set to assess all the joint military exercises with United States amid the pronouncement of President Rodrigo Duterte to end war games between the two countries.
Brig. Gen, Restituto Padilla, AFP spokesman, said the review will be done after the ongoing amphibious war games between Philippine and US marines ends October 12.
“After which a review and an assessment of all the exercises that we have been conducting will be done and a recommendation following that will be made for the secretary and eventually for the discussion of the cabinet,” Padilla said in a TV interview.
Padilla said the review will determine if the military will recommend that these war games should continue.
“We conduct the review and assessment in order to find out and ascertain if the benefits derived in these activities still serve the interest of the country. There may be a recommendation to continue all or some of it and suspend the others where the benefits derived were not in our favor,” Padilla said.
Padilla said the military will follow the decision by higher authorities.
“If the final decision was made based on those recommendations, then we will abide by whatever instruction that we will get from the Department of National Defense as well as from the executives,” Padilla said.
“If a decision was made to suspend all this activity then the AFP will abide because it will be a policy. Once it is done a formal notification will be served to our allies regarding this,” he added.
“Definitely it ( to suspend or continue with war games) will be a unilateral decision on the part of our government,” Padilla noted. Robina Asido/DMS
