Military war games lunched in Dinagat Islands

SAN FRANCISCO, Agusan del Sur— Some 600 soldiers took part in a four-day joint military exercises in Dinagat Islands starting Thursday, October 22, a drill designed to test and improve the readiness of troops and local authorities on combat scenarios and man-made disasters.

Spearheaded by the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) Eastern Mindanao Command (EastMinCom), the war games, dubbed “Exercise Surigao Sentinel 01-2026,” will involve live-fire tests, troop movements, and war game maneuvers across key staging areas in the province.

Col. Rosa Ma. Cristina Rosete Manuel, Eastmincom spokesperson, said the war games will bring together military units, government agencies, and stakeholders to test their interoperability.

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Military forces will be evaluated on operational readiness and coordinated response capabilities across multi-domain operations, maritime security, and humanitarian assistance and disaster response (HADR).

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“Exercise Surigao Sentinel 2026 underscores the importance of translating historical remembrance into present-day preparedness,” Rosete-Manuel said in a statement.

“Through strengthened collaboration and coordinated action, the exercise aims to enhance collective readiness, reinforce inter-agency cooperation, and contribute to building safe and more resilient communities,” she added.

The war games tempo hit its peak on Friday, October 23.

Military units in Dinagat Islands will execute maritime air strike operations, a counter-landing live-fire exercise, maritime interdiction, and coastal defense operations.

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Simultaneously, civil defense units will test their mettle with siren alarms, checkpoint operations, non-combatant evacuations, and mass relief maneuvers.

Following the intense weekend maneuvers, the event will transition from combat readiness to somber reflection by Sunday, October 25.

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The exercise will conclude with early morning wreath-laying and horn-blowing ceremonies at the Battle of Surigao Strait Shrine.

To ensure maritime safety during the live-fire maneuvers, authorities imposed a strict no-sailing policy across affected coastal waters.

Fisherfolk and passenger boat operators were instructed to keep their vessels docked and heed maritime advisories issued by the Philippine Coast Guard, local government units, and municipal disaster risk reduction offices.

Battle of Surigao Strait

The war games drew inspiration from the Battle of Surigao Strait, which occurred 82 years ago when Allied warships decimated the Japanese naval forces.

Fought as part of the broader Battle of Leyte Gulf, the Battle of Surigao Strait remains one of the world’s premier case studies in coordinated naval ambushes.

Under Rear Adm. Jesse B. Oldendorf, an Allied fleet of American and Australian battleships, cruisers, destroyers, and patrol torpedo (PT) boats intercepted and decimated Vice Admiral Shoji Nishimura’s advancing Japanese Southern Force, neutralizing the threat to the Allied forces in Leyte.

EastMinCom noted that while warfare has transitioned into modern radar grids, multi-domain maneuvers, and long-range fires, the engagement’s three core tenets—unity, trust, and discipline—remain vital as the military pivots toward external defense under the Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept (CADC).

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The 1944 Allied Forces victory hinged on the disciplined execution of the classic naval maneuver known as “crossing the T,” where Allied ships lined the mouth of the strait to bring concentrated, devastating broadsides against the advancing single-file Japanese line.