Philippines President Affirms New U.S. Alliance: Arroyo ends state visit in San Francisco
May 30, 2003
Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said last Thursday in San Francisco that she came to the United States to affirm a partnership, not to collect $4 billion from the United States in gratitude for supporting the Iraq War.
“I am not here because it’s payback time,” President Arroyo said at a cocktail reception hosted by the Philippine consulate inside San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel. “I am here as a partner in a revitalized and maturing alliance and together we must share a perspective of the world and see that [world] together.”
Her San Francisco remarks came days after her bilateral meeting in Washington, D.C., where President George W. Bush thanked her country for support in the Iraq War.
President Arroyo told Fairmont well wishers that “the Philippines and the United States have a maturing revitalizing relationship” as the world fights terrorism.
The framework of continuous cooperation and support against counterterrorism, she said, is key to the alliance between the United States and the Philippines. At the State Dinner in Washington, D.C., President Bush proclaimed that framework, declaring the Philippines “major non-NATO ally (MNNA)” status just like Israel, Egypt and Australia.
Non-NATO ally status will allow the United States and the Philippines to cooperate on military research and development and give the Philippines greater access to American defense equipment and supplies.
As part of $4 billion in grants, at least $95 million will support Arroyo’s counterterrorism efforts in the southern Philippines against Abu Sayyaf rebels, a group allegedly linked to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network.
In addition, the United States will deploy 300 American ground troops, which could fly in the face of the Philippines’ constitutional prohibition against the presence of foreign troops since the removal of American naval and air force bases in the early 1990s.
Also, at least $770 million will fund social and economic reforms for children, judicial, agrarian, land reforms and debt relief. The Philippines will receive new loans from the World Bank after paying back pre-1986 Marcos era loans from the International Monetary Fund.
“I’m really proud of [Arroyo’s] accomplishments … This shows that the Philippines is moving forward and is a key player in world politics,” said Rene Pascual, a clerk for Superior Court Judge Ronald Quidachay.
Pascual actively supported Arroyo’s efforts to allow Filipinos residing in the United States to have dual citizenship and vote in Philippine elections. The Philippine government will implement the law, the 2003 Absentee Voting Act, next year.
President Arroyo’s message was upbeat at the reception attended by San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, Albert Del Rosario, the Philippine Ambassador to the United States, College Board member Rodel Rodis and Marine Corporal O.J. Santamaria, who recently won American citizenship after being wounded in Iraq.
Among the 75 prominent Filipino American community leaders, there was a tinge of skepticism.
“What is the Philippines going to do with all this money, it just gives us more room for corruption,” said an attendee who requested anonymity.
On the other hand, Mona Lisa Yuchengco, editor and publisher of Filipinas Magazine said, “All the military and economic aid will help the Philippines, but let’s just hope that the payback is not something that will jeopardize our position as an independent and democratic country.”
While Yuchengco warned of the strings attached to the Philippines-United States relationship, Arroyo reaffirmed the alliance.
“President Bush is a friend, a friend of the Philippines and of the Filipino Americans,” she said. “Without the clout of all of you here in the U.S. my visits to the United States would not have been as successful!”
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