Instead of Obama, GMA gets Hillary

President Arroyo is slated to arrive today from her eight-day trip to five countries, including the United States where she met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Interviewed over state-run radio dzRB, deputy presidential spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo said that the President wrapped up her brief visit to the US with a half-hour meeting with Clinton in the Treaty Room of the State Department.

“The Philippines is one of our closest and most important allies, not just in Asia, but on so many issues around the world,” said the State Department website, quoting Clinton.

“And we are very proud of the role and contributions that Filipino-Americans have played in the United States over many years,” Clinton said.

Mrs. Arroyo congratulated Clinton for her new job.

“I am very happy to be here to congratulate you on your appointment and your love fest of a confirmation,” Mrs. Arroyo said, eliciting laughter from Clinton.

Clinton resigned her Senate seat to accept President Barack Obama’s request to be his secretary of state, and her former colleagues overwhelmingly confirmed the appointment.

Fajardo said Mrs. Arroyo is expected to arrive in Manila at around 5 a.m. today.

Clinton assured President Arroyo that the US, under President Obama, would keep its good relations with the Philippines, a former colony.

“As you said, the Filipino-Americans have played a very important role here, but another important thing is they all love you, both the Filipino-Americans and the Filipinos in the Philippines. So we’re so proud of you,” the President told Clinton.

Fajardo claimed Mrs. Clinton told Mrs. Arroyo of her readiness to take pointers from the Philippine president, particularly with regard to her handling of the peace process with Muslim rebels and of the economy.

Fajardo said that Clinton asked about Mindanao and the President was only too willing to discuss her administration’s strategy of using both soft and hard approaches in dealing with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and with other rebel groups.

The President also informed Clinton about the creation of a new government peace panel that would deal with the MILF when peace talks resume in the near future.

On the economy, Clinton acknowledged that the Philippine government is handling the global financial crisis very well.

The President said it was her administration’s decision to implement tough economic reform measures a few years back, specifically raising the value added tax rate by two percentage points, which eased the impact of the global crisis on the Philippines.

Clinton, Malacañang said, has also accepted an invitation to visit the Philippines but no date has been set.

Also during the meeting, Mrs. Arroyo also asked Clinton to include the Philippines among the Asian countries that Obama and the State Secretary intend to visit this year. The US president is slated to visit Japan, China and Malaysia this year.

Meeting with businessmen

Fajardo said the President also met with business leaders belonging to the US-ASEAN Business Council.

Fajardo said the business leaders asked the President about how she was able to steer the country to growth amid the global crisis. Fajardo gave no further details.

Mrs. Arroyo also met with another Obama appointee, National Intelligence Director Admiral Dennis Blair.

Fajardo noted that Blair, who once headed the US Pacific Command, discussed issues related to anti terrorism.

Benefits for war vets

Hawaii’s two senators also briefed Mrs. Arroyo on their campaign to get compensation promised six decades ago to Filipino soldiers who fought for the US during World War II.

One of the senators, Daniel K. Inouye, has inserted $198 million for them into the economic stimulus bill making its way through the US Senate. Inouye is chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

It was uncertain whether the money remained in the bill that Senate negotiators apparently agreed to Friday night.

A State Department official who outlined the private talks between Mrs. Arroyo and Clinton did not indicate that they discussed the Filipino veterans.

About 200,000 Filipinos served alongside US soldiers to defend the Philippines, then an American commonwealth, from the 1941 Japanese invasion and to resist subsequent Japanese occupation.

The Inouye clause would give each of the surviving veterans a lump sum settlement rather than the compensation Congress promised early in the war after Filipino volunteers fought valiantly in its early weeks. The promise was withdrawn by Congress in February 1946.

Akaka has reintroduced legislation to compensate the veterans that passed the House of Representatives for the first time last year, but did not make it through the Senate.

Inouye, speaking in the Senate on Thursday to defend his insertion of the money in the stimulus bill, said: “18,000 are still alive. 18,000. The average age is 90.”

“At this moment, while I am speaking, hundreds lie in hospitals on their death beds. And I am certain, while I am speaking, some are dying,” he said.

He was answering an effort to withdraw the money from the bill from Sen. John McCain, a wounded veteran of the Vietnam War and strong advocate of American veterans.

McCain was not arguing that the money should not be paid but that it did not belong in the stimulus bill.

Inouye, who lost an arm in World War II, said he did not disagree with McCain.

“This is not a stimulus proposal. It does not create jobs. But the honor of the United States is what is involved,” he said.

No big deal

Administration lawmakers said Mrs. Arroyo’s failure to meet Obama in Washington DC was no big deal.

“A meeting with Obama would only be a matter of chance. Why would she be disappointed when her main agenda in going to the US was to attend the National Prayer Breakfast and it was done upon the invitation of US lawmakers,” said Deputy Speaker Simeon Datumanong.

“She had meetings with former US Presidents in various instances, certainly she’ll formally meet President Obama in a more opportune time, place and event,” the Maguindanao congressman and Lakas stalwart said. 

Cebu Rep. Antonio Cuenco said the failed meeting with Obama “doesn’t make Ms. Arroyo a lesser President.”

Cuenco, House committee on foreign affairs chairman, said he is optimistic that a meeting between the two leaders will take place in a more appropriate time.

“In the meantime, we should let both President Obama and our very own President focus on the most pressing concern, which is to strengthen their respective economies in the face of the global economic threat,” he said.

Bulacan Rep. Rep. Lorna Silverio, vice chair of the House committee on foreign affairs, appealed to critics not to exaggerate the issue.

“So what if they didn’t get to meet for now? That’s a non-issue because Mrs. Arroyo went to the Breakfast Prayer on invitation of US solons and that she saw the opportunity to push for pending bills in the US Congress,” she said.

Silverio, chair of the House committee on inter-parliamentary relations and diplomacy, also pointed out that Obama reportedly arrived late at the event and left soon after delivering his speech, failing to greet any head of state.

Silverio said the President’s trip was productive because she was able to meet US legislators and discuss important issues regarding economic policies, peace initiatives for Mindanao, and the Veterans’ Bill.

“These accomplishments are the highlights of President Arroyo’s trip in the US. They should not be discounted at all,” Silverio said. With Delon Porcalla and AP