CAMP AGUINALDO, Quezon City – Members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the U.S. military successfully completed the 37th iteration of the Exercise Balikatan on Friday, April 8.

Nearly 9,000 Filipino and American service members trained shoulder-to-shoulder from the northern coast of Luzon to Palawan over the last two weeks, focusing on maritime security, amphibious operations, live-fire training, urban operations, aviation operations, counterterrorism, and humanitarian assistance and disaster response.

Four high-ranking leaders of the Communist Terrorist Group (CTG) were killed in a decisive encounter with the Philippine Army's 1st Special Forces Battalion (1SFBn) in KM24, Barangay Tikalaan, Talakag, Bukidnon, on April 6.

Lt. Gen. Greg T. Almerol, Commander of Eastern Mindanao Command, describes the operation as "a major strike against the terrorist remnants."

CAMP AGUINALDO, Quezon City – The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) continues to weaken the communist terrorist group's (CTG's) firepower as government troops seized an arms cache in Pampanga on April 7.

Joint elements of the 7th Infantry Division (7ID), Philippine Army's 70th Infantry Battalion, and Pampanga Provincial Police Station discovered the high-powered firearms at Barangay Ebus in Guagua, Pampanga.

CAMP AGUINALDO, Quezon City – Two new T-129 “ATAK” Helicopters from Turkey and a C-295 Medium Lift Aircraft from Spain were officially turned over to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Wednesday, April 6.

The joint turn-over and blessing ceremony of the newly-acquired air assets was held at the 250th Presidential Airlift Wing Hangar in Villamor Airbase, Pasay City.