Home | China | World | Business Arroyo to Visit Site of Philippine-U.S. Military Exercises TUE, FEB 26, 2002     Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will visit the southern city of Zamboanga where a series of Philippine-U.S. joint military training exercises are ongoing. Arroyo is set to leave Manila for Zamboanga City on Tuesday afternoon, and this will be her first visit to the city since the annual joint military exercises officially started late last month. She visits the city on the occasion of its fiesta celebration which marks the 65th anniversary of the city, the Manila Bulletin on-line report said on Tuesday. The president is also likely to visit the Filipino and American soldiers participating in the exercises there. The report said the visit of Arroyo to the site of the exercises is reckoned significant after a U.S. army helicopter crashed near the central city of Cebu, claiming lives of ten American soldiers. The helicopter crashed off on last Friday after completing a night mission in Basilan island in the south. Three bodies of the 10 on board have been recovered, and U.S. officials gave up on Sunday their hope of finding the seven others alive. National Security Adviser Roilo Golez said on Monday that the joint exercises would experience slight but insignificant delay in its implementation. Some 660 U.S. troops are engaged in the joint exercises in Zamboanga and Basilan to train the Philippine soldiers against the Abu Sayyaf bandits who are holding captive an American couple and a Filipina nurse in Basilan. Editor:Liu Hongji Source:Xinhua Recommend to your friend email:    China Central Television,All Rights Reserved