Philippine president to use state visit to seek aid

WASHINGTON -- Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo gets a grand reception at the White House on Monday, a meeting with President Bush and a state dinner. It's payback for her loyal support of the fight against international terror, but she wants to take home more than memories.

Arroyo is asking the United States for economic aid, trade concessions and money to combat terrorists.

For Bush, the state visit offers an opportunity to join another ally in a "victory lap" over the U.S.-led military success in Iraq, said Catharin Dalpino, an expert on U.S.-Asian relations at the Brookings Institution.

"With the bombings in Riyadh and Morocco, we're going to see some charges that the Bush administration was not paying proper attention to the war on terrorism when it was focused on Iraq," Dalpino said. "This is a way for the Bush administration to signal that yes, they are."

Arroyo was among the first world leaders to call Bush and express condolences after the Sept. 11 attacks. Arroyo and Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong of Singapore were the only two Southeast Asian leaders to support the U.S.-led war in Iraq, and she expelled two Iraqi diplomats after Bush asked U.S. allies to do it. The Philippines has sent a 175-member humanitarian mission to postwar Iraq.

Singapore's Goh visited Washington last week and signed an agreement that would wipe out tariffs and other trade barriers on about $33 billion in annual trade and give U.S. banks and companies more access to one of Asia's main financial centers. Now it's Arroyo's turn.

Besides Bush, during her visit she is scheduled to talk with Secretary of State Colin Powell and members of Congress, meet with representatives from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, give a speech at the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council and receive an honorary degree at Fordham University in New York.

She's seeking duty-free privileges for Philippine products, such as dried mangoes, pineapple juice and tuna. Arroyo also wants to see Philippine businesses get reconstruction contracts in Iraq and is trying to lure U.S. companies to invest in operations on the islands.

The Philippines' interest in trade and fighting terror probably will dominate discussions between Arroyo and Bush -- leaders with a few personal things in common. Both are 56. Arroyo is the daughter of a former president; Bush is the son of one. Both took office on the same day in 2001.

Further assuring her welcome from Bush, Arroyo ordered aerial and artillery strikes on Muslim rebel strongholds just hours before leaving on her eight-day trip to the United States. Philippine air force planes and helicopters pounded what she said are "terrorist cells" of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a separatist group in Mindanao where bombings and attacks that have left more than 210 people dead this year.

The bombings this week in Morocco and Saudi Arabia, as well as U.S. intelligence reports that suggest the possibility of terror attacks in Southeast Asia, add to the urgency of Arroyo's request for more U.S. military aid for the only former U.S. colony.

"What she's looking for is an expansion in U.S. military assistance in terms of equipment, training and advisers," said Patricia Paez, a spokeswoman at the Philippine Embassy in Washington. "The U.S. forces will not play any combat role, but they will help us in routing out the terrorists ourselves."

Terrorist threats around the world have ushered in new relations between the Philippines and the U.S. military. They basically were frozen in 1992 when, after years of acrimonious bargaining, the Philippine Senate rejected a 10-year lease for Clark Air Base and Subic Naval Base, and former President Corazon Aquino ordered U.S. forces to leave.

Now, Arroyo needs American military equipment and advice to fight the MILF; Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim extremist group loosely tied to al-Qaida and notorious for kidnappings and killings. Arroyo's government also is confronting remnants of the 3 1/2-decade-old communist New People's Army.

The two nations have been conducting joint military exercises in recent years, but last month the Philippine government banned American troops from joining Filipino combat controls to ease public concern over Pentagon operations in the former colony. The Philippine constitution prohibits foreign groups from engaging in combat unless allowed by treaty.

The ban was a change from last year, when American soldiers joined Filipino units on combat patrols during exercises on the southern island of Basilan, which helped devastate Abu Sayyaf's main faction. Many of the rebels survived and moved to other southern islands, including Jolo, where a joint exercise is planned this year.

"I think we found out earlier this year when there was an attempt to change the role of U.S. troops to a more combat role -- I think we found out that there are very real limits to that on the Philippine side," Dalpino said. "I don't think it's possible to increase the (U.S. military) role in terms of bumping it into a combat role."

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On the Net

Philippine government: www.gov.ph/