BY CRIS DIAZ
CAMP EVANGELISTA, Cagayan de Oro City: The two-week RP-US “Balikatan” exercise held at the Philippine Air Force (PAF) base in Lumbia here formally ends Monday (March 23, 2026), a military official said Tuesday.
Lt. Col. Patrick Martinez, commander of the army’s 4ID service command in Camp Evangelista, said that the 2026 RP-US Balikatan in Cagayan de Oro focused on territorial defense, humanitarian assistance and disaster response.
He said that the American troops arrived at the Lumbia airport on board a US Navy on March 11, 2026, now docked at the Macabalan Port area here.
He said that the Philippine army troops from the service command of the 4th Infsntry Division served as the counterpart of the American troops in the two-week training.
“I have no idea how many American personnel are involved in the training because most of them where divided into several batches staying only for a day or two before miving back to other areas in the country,” Martinez told the Manila Times.
He said that training basically focused on logistics and supports — giving emphasis on response involving time, personnel and expenses.
“For instance, Martinez cited that the cost of fuel in the deployment of one US naval vessel used in the “Balikatan” exercise is P50,000 per hour.”
Actually, the training is all about disaster response, logistics, resources needed and the fastest means to accomplish the mission, Martinez said.
The training enhances the interoperability of the armed forces of the Philippines with US counterpart in times emergency, Martinez said.
Lumbia airport is chosen as the staging area of the 2026 RP-US Balikatan disaster training here because Lumbia is one of the identified military bases in the countey under the 2014 Enhance Defense Cooperation Agreement (WDCA) between the United States and the Philippines.
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