US Marines quit war games for Philippines rescue

[USMC Chuter]

ST BERNARD, Philippines (AFP) - Fresh from the Iraq confict and headed for war games in the Philippines, hundreds of US Marines have instead found themselves digging through the mud in an attempt to save hundreds of landslide victims.

The amphibious ships USS Essex and USS Harper's Ferry were docking Friday at Subic Bay, the former US naval base on the Philippines' South China Sea coast, when they received urgent orders to turn around and head for the Pacific side.

Manila issued an international appeal for help after a mountainside collapsed on the village of Guinsaugon in the central island of Leyte, leaving up t0 1,400 people buried.

"Our main activity has been searching for survivors on the site," said Colonel James Vohr, commander of a US Marine expeditionary unit service support group that arrived Sunday.

"We're going to supply support to both the site and the evacuation centers," Vohr told AFP in St Bernard, the staging post for the rescue.

One platoon with shovels, body bags and drinking water trekked Monday towards the presumed site of the village school, which has become the focus of the search. More than 200 children and 40 teachers are buried there.

The rest of the 225-member US Marine team now on site will be setting up a water purification system on the site Monday, Vohr said.

Fifteen giant helicopters from the Essex have been flying sorties to the site with supplies from Tacloban city to the north.

The US Marine force, based in Japan, was arriving at Subic Bay when new orders came in, Vohr said.

They were to join more than 5,000 US soldiers taking part in annual military exercises with Philippine troops, called "Balikatan" (Shoulder to Shoulder). The exercises in several areas of the Philippines formally started Monday.

The Essex, which was just a few feet from docking, "was told to sail out again" while the Harper's Ferry, which had already docked, was ordered to set sail.

"Balikatan is not going on for us. This (rescue) is the focus of the effort now," Vohr said.

However, he said the rest of the military exercises would proceed as usual, including about 400 troops on medical missions in the southern island of Jolo, a hotbed of Islamic militants linked to the Al-Qaeda network.

Vohr said the US Marines have previous experience as a quick reaction team to natural disasters.

Parts of his unit had just come back from Iraq while some are being rotated in, he added.

The war games, and the unscheduled rescue mission, are taking place amid controversy over a rape case.

Four US Marines have been charged with raping a Filipino woman last November when they were taking part in similar joint military exercises at Subic Bay. They deny the charge.

"It's a most unfortunate situation," Vohr said.

"The US military and Marine Corps came down to visit the Philippines with the best intentions and helpfully this (rescue) will show the people of the Philippines our intentions."

Aside from Islamic militants in the south, American forces in Leyte could have faced a threat from communist guerrillas.

Communist Party of the Philippines spokesman Gregorio Rosal said in a statement Sunday that its armed wing the New People's Army would not attack US troops involved in humanitarian work on Leyte.

But he said "any American provocateur caught straying into rebel zones will be hit."

Most Marines do not carry firearms but teams are always escorted by armed Filipino soldiers and police.

[Grimmy]

Hope all the hot heads and murder-death-kill cultists got the memo on the cease fire.