Hawai'i troops make difference in Philippines
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
From Army Maj. Cynthia Teramae's point of view, the presence of U.S. troops in the Philippines as part of the war on terrorism has been a big success.
U.S. Pacific Command
A U.S. contingent of about 1,200 people, including 160 Special Forces troops and 350 Navy and Marine Corps engineers, has trained Philippine forces in counter-terrorism, provided medical assistance, dug wells and built roads.
Maj. Tom May and Lt. Col. Timothy Armstrong were among the Marines conducting martial arts training at Camp Navarro in the Philippines.
Teramae and other military people from Hawai'i have been a part of it.
About 70 people from Special Operations Command Pacific, based at Camp Smith, are in the Philippines as part of Joint Task Force 510.
Other Hawai'i forces include 30 soldiers from Scho-field Barracks that are part of a Joint Logistics Support Element, and a Marine Support Element from Kane'ohe of about 45 Marines.
Teramae, a spokeswoman with Special Operations Command Pacific, was in the southern Philippines from January to April, and was scheduled to go back last Friday.
The six-month mission there is scheduled to end July 31, but it could be extended, and officials have said a security framework involving U.S. assistance and personnel will remain.
Teramae said as U.S. soldiers have trained with Philippine troops and built roads, they've also built bridges with the people of Zamboanga City and Basilan Island, where Muslim Abu Sayyaf extremists with ties to al-Qaida have been operating.
"We can already see the results of our training," Teramae said. "What we found was that people were frightened of these terrorists and a lot had moved away and closed their schools. Just the presence of U.S. personnel has brought back a sense of safety."
Philippine special forces, with training from U.S. troops, continue to combat a dwindling numbers of Abu Sayyaf on 20-mile by 30-mile Basilan Island in the rural south.
On Friday, the Philippine military reported it killed Abu Sabaya, a prominent leader of the group, when a naval special warfare unit intercepted a 25-foot outrigger with seven Abu Sayyaf members aboard.
The New York Times said most schools in the area of Isabella, where troops set up headquarters in late January, were staffed with Christian missionaries, and when Abu Sayyaf moved in, its members killed or kidnapped schoolteachers and beheaded the landowner who donated the property for the school.
The kidnap-extortion gang closed roads, and local residents were afraid to use those that remained.
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Since the arrival of Joint Task Force 510, and with the Philippine military as a driving force, "we've seen a lot of families move back in," Teramae said. Homes and schools are being rebuilt.
Maj. Cynthia Teramae says the people in Zamboanga City welcomed the U.S. troops "with open arms."
"I believe we've handled this well," Air Force Brig. Gen. Donald C. Wurster, Special Operations Command Pacific and Task Force 510 commander, told the American Forces Press Service. "We didn't come in and try to take anything over. All Americans have been very conscious of the concerns of the Philippine government."
Special Operations Command Pacific, with about 125 people assigned to Camp Smith, has a standing task force ready to respond quickly to a crisis.
Camp Smith forces were deployed to the Philippines as a headquarters element. Also brought in was the Joint Logistics Support Element from Schofield, which Teramae said has been "a tremendous help in setting up the things we needed to have."
Based at Zamboanga City at Camp Navarro, the unit set up the airfield and contracted local residents for modular housing.
"Bringing in food was a major feat — feeding all these people," Teramae said.
Zamboanga City "actually looks a lot like Hawai'i — older Hawai'i," she said. "It's very beautiful, and the people just welcomed us with open arms."
Teramae said the camp itself is like a very small Fort Shafter, with a small commissary, chapel and hospital.
The military leased generators so it wouldn't be a burden on local infrastructure, dug wells, and has been building nearly 40 miles of roads on Basilan.
U.S. Special Forces on Basilan, about a 15-minute helicopter ride across the Basilan Strait from Zamboanga, met local residents the old-fashioned way — they knocked on doors and said hello.
Recently, U.S. Air Force personnel from the 353rd Maintenance Squadron, 353rd Special Operations Group out of Kadena Air Base in Japan, along with the 432nd Aerospace Expeditionary Group, handed out more than 4,000 pounds of collected clothes and toys to the Area Vocational Rehabilitation Center in Cebu City.
"On any given day, we would walk down the street and people would come out shake our hand, learn our names," Teramae said. "This has really been a good mission in terms of working closely with other nations and accomplishing something together."
The 160 special operations advisers on Basilan from the 1st Battalion, 1st Special Forces out of Okinawa have had more austere accommodations: thatched-roof huts.
"For the most part, on Basilan, they were using bottled water, and they didn't have too many showers down there," Teramae said.
Most American troops have been in the Philippines on 90-day rotations, she said.
U.S. Special Forces on Basilan are expected to soon begin training and shadowing Philippine units with smaller companies, instead of operating at the battalion level.
Military advisers had advocated using smaller units, which would also involve more risk for U.S. troops.
In mid-June, U.S. military helicopters evacuated four Philippine soldiers wounded in a firefight with Abu Sayyaf on Basilan, and gunmen also fired on U.S. troops.
No U.S. troops were injured, and the military said only that there had been reports of gunfire in the vicinity of one of the work sites.
Kane'ohe Marines provid-ed security at Edwin Andrews Air Base in Zamboanga City and for the Naval Construction Task Force Group on Basilan, but gunfire didn't involve Kane'ohe Marines, Teramae said.
On June 7, meanwhile, Philippine forces attempted to rescue U.S. missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham, who had been held by the Abu Sayyaf. Martin Burnham was killed in the firefight.
Although U.S. soldiers have not had a direct combat role in clashes with the Abu Sayyaf, 10 Americans were killed Feb. 21 when their MH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed at sea while ferrying troops and supplies from Zamboanga City to Basilan Island.
Whether the exercise and construction projects are continued or not, Teramae said a U.S. presence is certain.
Teramae said Special Operations Command Pacific has worked closely with the Philippines since 1993 on Joint Combined Exchange Training involving special operations forces.
"Our plan really is to transition to a long-term security assistance partnership," she said. "This sort of training is not new for us ... so we will continue to assist the Armed Forces of the Philippines as we have in the past — but we definitely have a long-term goal in mind. We are going to continue our assistance in one form or another."
