MANILA, Phi lippines — The Philippines and the United States officially ended yesterday the 39th joint Balikatan military exercises, which they called a success, as the event had attracted other allies and delivered a warning to those standing in the way of a free and open Indo-Pacific.
While both the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the US military had repeatedly insisted that the 18-day exercises were not directed at any country, China had made known early on its displeasure, accusing participants – particularly the Philippines and the US – of escalating tensions in the region.
“That should bring strength and comfort to the citizens of the United States and the Republic of the Philippines along with those who stand with us to uphold those traits and ideals I mentioned earlier, which are a free and open Indo-Pacific, of transparency and the respect of sovereignty and the seeking of peaceful resolution,” Lt. Gen. Michael Cederholm, commander of the US First Marine Expeditionary Force, said at the ceremony officially closing the Balikatan exercises at Camp Aguinaldo.
“These traits are crystal clear, it cannot be reasonably misconstrued. But make no mistake, it should also give pause to any adversary who does not believe in a free and open Pacific, who does not believe in transparency, who does not seek peaceful resolution but will seek to use force to impose their will on other sovereign nations,” Cederholm said.
He said this year’s Balikatan “has directly built war fighting readiness for us, it has enhanced tactics, techniques and procedures across a wide range of military operations at the same time through our humanitarian civic assistance projects.”
He noted that “in order to fulfill our responsibilities under the Mutual Defense Treaty, we must train so that we are always ready.”
“Balikatan is a tangible and perfect demonstration of US and Philippine resolve to strengthen the alliance in increasingly complex security environment by increasing our interoperability, bilaterally and across the land, air, sea space and c yberspace domain,” he maintained.
He said Balikatan 2024 has been a huge success with the participation of every single service of the US armed for ces, the AFP and militaries of participant and observer nations.
“We have learned lessons from Balikatan and those learning and refinement make us stronger. We collectively are better, more capable an d more lethal as a result of this exercise,” Cederholm said.
Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. said President Marcos extends his congratulations to participants of the Balikatan, adding that next year’s event would be bigger and would involve “a full battle simulation which will put to the test the combined capabilities in the most realistic of scenarios possible with safety in mind.”
“Given the El Niño period now, it probably posed a significant challenge in operating, particularly to those on the ground,” Teodoro said. — Helen Flores
MANILA, Philippines — Meralco, the PBA’s top defensive team, gave up 48 big points to NLEX’ Robert Bolick, the league’s premier scorer.
But still, the gritty and playoffs-experienced Bolts found ways to put together a 97-93 comeback victory and a 1-0 lead in the PBA Philippine Cup best-of-three quarterfinal series yesterday.
After allowing Bolick to torch the hoops of the Smart Araneta Coliseum for the first 47 minutes of play, the Meralco cagers shut him down when it mattered most and leaned on Allein Maliksi’s leadership for the finishing touches.
Maliksi knocked down four clutch free throws in the endgame in his 22-point performance as the Bolts came back from as many as 12 points down and laid to waste Bolick’s new career high.
“He’s so good at picking angles, picking shots and it really takes five guys playing defense on him,” said coach Luigi Trillo, who alternated Anjo Caram, Chris Banchero, Allein Maliksi and even Cliff Hodge on defensive duties against Bolick.
“That’s Robert Bolick for you, first half pa lang umarangkada na siya agad (with 28 points). As a team, we’re not pleased with how we played defense. We have a lot of things to fix in Game 2. We’re not going to the semis if we play defense like that.”
Things started to go Meralco’s way in the third, where an 8-0 closing salvo put it to within two at 73-75. Maliksi, Caram, Bong Quinto and Banchero then went to work in the fourth to complete the job.
Raymond Almazan (15), Caram (14), Banchero (12), Newsome (12) and Quinto (11) also helped offensively for the Bolts, who can close it out on Sunday.
“Credit to everyone. Sabi ko nga before the game, if you’re counting on me, I’m counting on you. Tulong tulong lang and we all wanted to win,” said Maliksi.
Mike Miranda was the only other NLEX player in double figures outside Bolick, who reset his previous personal best of 46.