Militants score US military aid

Militant groups denounced yesterday the US government’s release of a $10-million military assistance package to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), calling it "a bribe for the extended, if not permanent, stay of American troops in the country."

"We won’t be surprised at all if the US and the Philippine governments immediately ink another military agreement that is more extensive than the Balikatan exercises," Sanlakas president Wilson Fortaleza said.

Some 1,000 US forces are in Mindanao training Philippine troops in jungle warfare and counter-terrorism to help them combat the Abu Sayyaf, which US officials believe is linked to Osama bin Laden’s al- Qaeda terror network.

The war drills, which involve the largest US troop deployment in the war against terror outside Afghanistan, are due to end on July 31.

Fortaleza said the US has always been known for its carrot-and-stick policy in dealing with the Philippines "wherein aid has always been tied to lopsided economic and military agreements."

In a White House memo released the other day, US President George W. Bush ordered the release of $10 million in military equipment and services to the Philippine government as part of an earlier pledge to help a key ally in its fight against terrorism.

Fortaleza said the $10-M package should not be viewed simply as a form of military assistance to help the AFP wipe out the Abu Sayyaf, but as a collateral for future, more extensive military agreements between the two countries.

"We should not deny the fact that after the termination of the Military Bases Agreement in 1991, the US had been planning for a gradual comeback," he said.

The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said the Arroyo administration should not have allowed "such an act of banditry."

"It was a national slur against 77 million Filipinos whose dignity as a people was pegged by the US at $10 million," Pamalakaya secretary general Manolito Serrano said in a statement.

Serrano said the anti-terrorism package was obviously "a gift to Malacañang for having approved the US government’s proposal for the expansion of the military exercises."

He said the Philippine government should return the package, saying acceptance is tantamount to the violation of national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Sanlakas members staged a bayside protest yesterday at the back of the US Embassy in Manila to dramatize their objection to the military aid and the extension of the Balikatan.

The militant Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) said it would lead another protest today in front of the US Embassy to remind the public of the abuses committed by Americans on the citizenry.– With Mayen Jaymalin, Sandy Araneta