U.S. Army Capt. Brent Sarver, left, Philippine Army Capt. Rhoderick Oporto, center, and Philippine Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Teddy Tipones salute April 23 during the playing of the Philippine's national anthem and "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the groundbreaking ceremony for classroom construction at Dona Mercedes Elementary School in Guinobatan, Albay Province, Philippines. The ceremony was one of five celebrating the start of humanitarian civic assistance projects that Philippine and U.S. service-members are working on as a part of Exercise Balikatan. Balikatan is an annual bilateral exercise between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and U.S. armed forces designed to strengthen interoperability and country-to-country relations. Oporto is a Philippine Army information support officer, Tipones is an equipment operations staff noncommissioned officer and Sarver is a military information support operations officer.