US intensifies anti-terrorism operations in the Philippines
MANILA — Washington has reportedly stepped up its military cooperation with the Philippines by launching a new assistance mission here that would allow the Southeast Asian nation to receive the same appropriation used in funding US counterterrorism operations in the Middle East.
The Pentagon had reportedly renamed its anti-terrorism mission in the Philippines from "Operation Enduring Freedom-Philippines" to "Operation Pacific Eagle," marking a new phase of counterterrorism efforts here and in the region.
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the intensified US military mission here started last September after the Philippine government requested for more assistance in defeating ISIS-backed militants that laid siege to the principal Islamic city of Marawi.
Being an Overseas Contingency Operation, or OCO, funds for the new US mission in the Philippines typically are exempt from "limits on routine spending" and have financed US wars on terror, the WSJ explained.
However, it was not clear why the Trump administration did not announce the ramped up US mission at the time it was launched.
"The Philippines and United States governments remain steadfast in their alliance and are committed to countering radicalization and violent extremism in the Philippines and Southeast Asia," Marine Lt. Col. Christopher Logan, a Pentagon spokesman, was quoted as saying in a report by Military Times.
"To support these efforts, and at the request of the government of the Philippines, we have enhanced our comprehensive counterterrorism cooperation that supports the Philippine Security Forces," Logan added.
Information from the Defense Manpower Data Center show that there were a total of 101 American troops, mostly Marines, deployed in the Philippines as of Sept. 30, 2017.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte imposed martial law in the restive southern region of Mindanao on the day Marawi was stormed by heavily-armed homegrown extremists who pledged allegiance to ISIS.
According to a Philippines military spokesman, US troops were on the ground near Marawi City but were not involved in fighting Islamist militants.
In a rousing address to troops last October, Duterte declared Marawi liberated from pro-ISIS extremists after five months of fighting that gave state forces, who have far more experience in jungle combat, their first taste of urban warfare.
But Duterte had warned about continuing threats of ISIS, saying militants who escaped the battle were actively recruiting those who were displaced by the fighting to carry out future assaults.