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| Roundup: Philippine-US military alliance strengthened after Sept. 11 event |
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Philippine police forces have been put on "heightened alert" nationwide to prepare for possible attacks as the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States approaches.
President Arroyo, Asia's most vocal supporter for the US-led anti-terrorism campaign, has offered "all-out" support and allowed the US military to use Philippine airspace as well as seaports and airports as refueling and staging points, including Clark and Subic, the two former American bases in the country.
She has described the military alliance with the United States as "a strategic asset" for the Philippines, a former US colony which forged a Mutual Defense Treaty with America in 1951. The Philippine Senate also ratified a Visiting Forces Agreement with the United States in 1999 that allows large-scale joint military exercises in the country.
In return for her staunch support, US president George W. Bush promised to give the Philippines 100 million dollars of military aid and 3 billion more worth of trade subsidies, debt relief and pledges for private sector investments when Arroyo visited the United States that month.
Earlier this year, Washington deployed about 1,000 soldiers, including special forces and military engineers, in the southern Philippine island of Basilan and nearby Zamboanga city for six-month-long joint exercises to help local forces hunt down the notorious Abu Sayyaf kidnap-for-ransom group, allegedly linked to the al-Qaeda network of Osama bin laden, the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks.
The exercise ended on July 31. American missionary Gracia Burnham was rescued by US-trained and backed Philippine soldiers on June 7 after a year in captivity, but her husband Martin and Filipina nurse Edibora Yap were killed in the raid. One of the top Abu Sayyaf leaders, its spokesman Abu Sabaya, was believed to have been killed during a clash with government troops at sea two weeks later, although his body has never been found.
The war games in the south, part of a series of drills held so far in the Philippines this year, had triggered much controversy in the country as it lasted unprecedentedly long and was conducted in real battlefields to destroy a real enemy.
Supporters welcomed the US soldiers' arrival to help wipe out a peace and order threat that frightens foreign tourists and investors away, while opponents argued that it violated the constitution which bans foreign military presence on the Philippine soil.
Critics also feared that the deployment of US troops could aggravate the situation in the strife-torn south, where the country's largest rebel group, the 12,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front, has been engaging in on-and-off negotiations with the government. The military has repeatedly accused it of providing sanctuary to the Abu Sayyaf.
Even some of Arroyo's allies, including Vice President and concurrent Foreign Secretary Teofisto Guingona, have reservations about the US deployment. Guingona, one of the senators in 1991 who voted against the extension of a base agreement with America, finally resigned his foreign secretary post last month due to "policy difference" with President Arroyo.
Earlier this year, the Texas-based think-tank Strategic forecasting Inc. (Stratfor) has said that the United States may be literally paving the way for a forward operation base in Southeast Asia with the construction of roads and air strips in Basilan.
After the controversial exercises ended, hundreds of US soldiers remained in the south as believed by many, to complete unfinished infrastructure projects as said. And another round of joint exercises has been announced to start next month involving some 400 US special forces to train local troops on guerrilla warfare.
Moreover, the military has said that 18 rounds of Philippine-US joint exercises have been planned for 2003 under a five-year training program agreed upon recently by the two countries.
In a show of support to the Philippines, US Secretary of State Colin Powell announced early last month when he visited Manila that the US government will provide 55 million dollars of additional military aid to the country within the year. Later, the United States listed another major Philippine rebel group, the New People's Army, as a terrorist group.
Some analysts said all these developments are inviting suspicion that the United States, through its anti-terrorism campaign and by way of one after another round of joint exercises, is seeking an easier access to and longer stay in the Philippines.
The United States has denied it is seeking permanent military bases or presence in the Philippines, and President Arroyo has made it clear that she will not allow so.
And there are reports that Washington is pressuring Manila into signing the Mutual Logistics Support Agreement, which allegedly will give the US military formal access to the Philippines. Philippine Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes reportedly said that failure to approve the agreement will affect the relations between the two countries.
Anyway, just as the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy based in Hong Kong said earlier this year, the Philippines is a "place to watch in 2002 due to its potential to shape the US role in Asia in the medium term."
Source: Xinhua
Editor: Zhao Xuan
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