MANILA, April 4 -- This year's "Balikatan" military exercises with the US forces will showcase the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) capabilities as it shifts towards the so-called "Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept" (CADC) or the strategy that aims to defend the country's exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

"This 'Balikatan' will be a showcase of our capabilities in performing our mandate in accordance with the CADC na bagong nilabas na ng (recently issued by the) Department of National Defense (DND), so that means that our exercises, our defense concepts have to go beyond 12 nautical miles for us to protect our national interest within our territory, within our territorial waters and also within the EEZ," the exercises' executi...