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Wednesday, April 13, 2005
RP protests US official's Afghanistan remark
MANILA -- Government on Tuesday summoned US charge d'affaires and handed him a diplomatic protest over his remarks that the restive south, home to Moro rebels and al-Qaida-linked militants, risks turning into "an Afghanistan situation".
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo nevertheless tried to appear unconcerned about the incident, telling a press conference on Tuesday that US President George W. Bush was satisfied with Manila's campaign against terror.
She quoted Bush lauding the Philippines in a speech he delivered at the US National Defense University for making the world a "safer place".
"Even President Bush, who is a leader in the war against terrorism, is satisfied. He said the world is safer because of the Philippines' success in neutralizing the leaders of terrorists, including Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) and al-Qaeda elements," she said.
Arroyo added that US charge d'affaires Joseph Mussomeli had already corrected his statements so she would rather leave it at that.
An Associated Press report said Joseph Mussomeli was adamant he said nothing offensive, telling reporters before his meeting at the Department of Foreign Affairs that there is "absolutely nothing to apologize for."
"There's not a single criticism of the Philippine government or the Philippine people in the entire transcript" of last week's interview with Australia's SBS television, he said.
A Foreign Affairs statement quoted Assistant Foreign Secretary Ariel Abadilla as telling Mussomeli that some of his comments were "grossly inaccurate, patently unfair and prejudicial and counterproductive to the overall efforts of the Philippine government to fight terrorism and to bring peace and development to Mindanao."
Abadilla said the comments undermine cooperation with Washington, negates the headway achieved in the Philippines' peace and development programs and "are not to be expected from a representative of a close and friendly government and strategic ally."
Emerging with diplomatic note in hand after a half-hour, Musommeli said the Philippine government was within its rights to express its views and that he and Abadilla had a "healthy, candid exchange of views."
In the interview, Mussomeli lamented a lack of focus on the terrorist threat in the southern Mindanao region, where Philippine authorities have made several high-profile arrests of Indonesian suspects from the Jemaah Islamiyah regional terror group and its local collaborators.
He said, according to the transcript posted on the embassy Web site: "Certain portions of Mindanao are so lawless, so porous the borders, that you run the risk of it becoming like an Afghanistan situation."
US officials have long worried that unrest in the Philippines' impoverished Muslim homeland could be exploited by terror groups.
But the comments provoked an angry reaction from Philippine officials and congressmen, some of whom called for Mussomeli's expulsion.
Arroyo's spokesman, Ignacio Bunye, said Monday that "such negative hyperbole to describe the Mindanao situation is out of tune with what is happening on the ground," and that the government was "making gains against terrorists and poverty every single day and week that passes."
He also said Mussomeli had denied the story attributed to him and clarified that his interview was taken out of context.
Arroyo, meanwhile, admitted that despite the recent successes in the campaign against terrorism, "there are many things that we still have to do."
Aside from additional training of soldiers, additional equipment are being acquired to "help increase the accuracy of our offensives so we will be able to get the targets swiftly, and at the same time, we have if possible zero collateral damage," added Arroyo.
Malacañang welcomed the start of the US-Philippines joint Balance Piston training exercises in Basilan, which opened Monday.
Bunye said the joint activity is another milestone in our joint efforts to fight terror and poverty. "This will go a long way towards the overall stability in Mindanao, the Philippines and the region," he added. (JMR/AP)
(April 13, 2005 issue)
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