The joint military exercises will no longer feature two major naval exercises that included territorial defence training, Visaya said Wednesday. The agreement was reached at a meeting of military officials from both countries and was in line with a directive from President Rodrigo Duterte that future exercises should focus more on counter-terrorism, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, than on external defence. Duterte earlier called for the withdrawal of American troops from the Philippines after US President Barack Obama criticised his deadly war on drugs and the rise in the number of extra-judicial killings. Duterte suspended joint US-Philippine patrols in the South China Sea and threatened to end all joint military exercises. Military spokesman Restituto Padilla said that the 258 exercises being retained included smaller ones, some involving just a few soldiers on both sides.

Source: The Nation Bangkok November 24, 2016 07:35 UTC