By Roli Ng
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines, April 12 (Reuters) - U.S. troops participating in joint exercises with the Philippine military to help vanquish Muslim guerrillas may stay beyond the originally planned six months, a senior U.S. commander said on Friday.
The Philippine government is also considering a U.S. proposal to bring in additional forces, mostly engineers to help build roads and increase access to interior parts of Basilan island, the stronghold of the rebels, Brigadier Donald Wurster told Reuters Television.
"Our original plan was for a six-month (exercise)," said Wurster, special forces chief for the U.S. Pacific Command."It appears that there are other things that could be done in the interest of both nations. Leaders in both countries are looking at that and what they would like to pursue."
Some 650 U.S. troops, including over 150 crack special forces, have been in the southern Philippines since January to help counter the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas, linked by Washington to the al Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden. It is the United States' biggest expansion of the war on terror after Afghanistan.
The deployment has been controversial in the Philippines, a former U.S. colony which does not allow foreign troops to take part in combat on its territory.
Both sides have gone to considerable lengths to assure critics that the U.S. soldiers will only be training Philippine counterparts and will not take part in actual operations.

ROADS AND WELLS
Asked about requests by the U.S. military to increase the number of troops here, Wurster said the proposal involved mostly engineers to help the Philippine military become more mobile, contruct roads and dig wells for the local people.
"Those are the sort of things those people will be doing if that deployment is deemed in the interest of the Philippines and the United States," he said.
Wurster said the joint exercises were improving the capabilities of the Philippine military and it was getting better equipped to deal with the Abu Sayyaf and also rescue Martin and Gracia Burnham, American missionaries held hostage by the guerrillas for over 10 months.
"The recovery of the Burnhams is of course foremost in our minds...the way we intend to approach that is from the bottom up, we intend to make the Armed Forces of the Philippines better across the board," he said.
"The opportunity to rescue the Burnhams will present itself. The Philippine forces will have the skills and organisation and the expertise to react to that. I am confident they will be successful both in the destruction of the Abu Sayyaf and the recovery of the Burnhams."
((Manila newsroom +632 841-8914, Fax +632 817-6267, manila.newsroom@reuters.com))


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