Philippine Army's elite troops completes Urban Warfare Training in Singapore

The members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines has again shown and proved that its members is of world class caliber of an organization.

Forty members of the elite members of the Philippine Army’s Special Operations Command were sent to Singapore for a two week military operation and urban training that was held at the Murai Urban Training Facility in Lim Chu Kang.

This was an offer from the Singapore government during the height of the Marawi crisis to provide much needed urban training for the Philippine troops in their very own counter terror facility in Singapore. *



Philippine elite soldiers in action at the Murai Urban Training Facility in Lim Chu Kang, Singapore ( photo credit to straitstimes website)

Last Dec. 13 was the culmination of the professional exchange program between the two ASEAN countries- Philippines and Singapore. The two week exchange focused on the mutual learnings that of small unit tactics, techniques and procedures needed to fight in an urban environment.

"The experience that the Philippine Army soldiers have from the Marawi crisis has allowed us to validate our doctrines and drills in the urban operations, Colonel Liew Kok Keong, commander of the Infantry Training Institute who oversaw the exchange between the two militaries.

"The friendship and bond forged in this professional exchange will strengthen the cooperation between the two countries and help to improve the security in our region," he added.

“Such training was important as it provided the soldiers with the skills required to accomplish any given mission, head of the Philippine Army delegation Major Edwin Mirador.

Some of the soldiers here for the exchange had fought in the five-month Marawi conflict with Islamic State in Iraq and Syria-affiliated Maute militants on the island of Mindanao that ended in October this year. In the Marawi  city siege more than 1,000 people is estimated  to have killed with the residents more than 400,000 displaced by the fighting. *

"The professional exchange with the SAF has allowed us to share knowledge on the Marawi operations and adopt SAF's urban operations training procedures for learning. Therefore, co-sharing between the armies was an essential training aid," said Major Mirador, who is also commandant of the Counter Terrorist Development Training School.

Report from Straitstimes