October 3, 2003
Exchange of state visits in one year marks
progress in U.S.-Philippines relations
There is “no better testimony to the progress” of U.S.-Philippines
relationship than the fact that soon, U.S. President George W. Bush
and Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo “will have met
twice in this one year, in full-scale formal state visits,” said
Ambassador Francis Ricciardone in his remarks to the Foreign Correspondents
Association of the Philippines on October 1, 2003. President Bush, the
Ambassador said, “looks forward to his visit as a way of advancing
our partnerships still further.” In his remarks, Ambassador Ricciardone
also discussed the U.S. views in the 2004 presidential elections, the
peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, U.S. assistance
for the development of the Mindanao region, the bilateral air transport
agreement, and the results of the World Trade Organization meeting in
Cancun.
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“You could say,” Ambassador Ricciardone told FOCAP, “that
the United States is not neutral about the Philippine elections, and
does back a ‘candidate.’ And that candidate is: Philippine
democracy.” Pressed during the open forum to identify the candidate
whom the U.S. thinks would best represent a strong Philippine democracy,
the Ambassador replied: “The person who will best lead a strong
Philippine democracy would be the person that the Filipinos choose in
May 2004.” He explained: “Our only interest is to see a
strong Philippine democracy -- and thus a strong, prosperous Philippines
-- emerge from a lawful, peaceful, democratic process. Such an election
can only reinvigorate any democracy, and we are confident that will
happen here.” Seated beside the Ambassador during the meeting
with FOCAP are (l-r): U.S. Embassy Information Officer Karen Kelley,
FOCAP Secretary Girlie Linao of DPA, FOCAP Vice President Albert Alba
of Yomiuri Shimbun, and FOCAP Ex-Officio Board Member Gabby Tabunar
of CBS News.
“The United States will not provide economic development assistance
in areas controlled by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front if that organization
maintains its ties to outlaws, terrorists,” Ambassador Ricciardone
told FOCAP. “We are particularly concerned about the continuing
presence in Mindanao of the Jemaah Islamiyah, a foreign terrorist group
outlawed by the United Nations. The JI does not bring peace and development,
but only death and destruction to all who deal with it.” Asked
if the U.S. is “happy” with the Philippine Government efforts
to fight terrorism, the Ambassador replied: “Yes. The Philippine
government is putting heart and soul into the effort.” He pointed
out, however, that “a lot more needs to be done by all governments,
not just by the Philippines” to fight terrorism.
On the open skies issue, the Ambassador said the U.S. has “offered
– offered, not demanded, not insisted, not been bullies –
we’ve offered open skies agreements all around the world. More
than sixty countries have taken us up.” He clarified that the
1982 U.S.-Philippines air transport agreement, which took effect October
1, 2003, is not an open skies agreement. “Philippine skies still
have lots of restrictions that the Philippine government wants to protect
its carriers” and the U.S. will respect those restrictions, he
said. On the failure of the WTO ministerial meeting in Cancun recently,
Ambassador Ricciardone said: “What was on offer from the United
States and…jointly with the European Union…was a substantial
reduction of all kinds of barriers to trade, particularly in agriculture
area that would have been of benefit to less developed countries, including
the medium developed countries like the Philippines. So, we were disappointed
to walk empty-handed, but the people who were hurt by the status quo,
we believe, are the developing countries. …We wanted to tackle
that at Cancun in a serious way.”
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