why did gloria macapagal-arroyo go to the united states of america?

the philippine president visited the united states of america last september 09-18, 2005. the most prestigious reason was to chair the united nations security council's summit meeting.

i’m proud that a filipino president was given a chance to do this honorable job. her spokesman reported that, "for three days last week, president gloria macapagal arroyo showed to the world that she could hold her own among world leaders. the president chaired the recently-concluded united nations security council summit, achieving the distinction of becoming the first asian and first woman head of state to do so. the summit was held only for the third time in the u.n.’s 60 year history."

the other reasons for gloria's u.s. trip include bilateral meetings with china's hu jintao and malaysia's abdullah badawi and meetings with the international board of advisers, businessmen, investors, chambers of commerce, and the filipino community. i honestly believe that these meetings will have good impact on the welfare of the filipino people. for these reasons, i applaud the philippine president gloria macapagal-arroyo!

however, there is an embarrassing reason why president arroyo went to the united states—that is, to kowtow or to bow down before the current head of the global military empire, george w. bush.

two years ago, the bush administration promised the arroyo government an aid package that was to be released after malacanang complies with certain conditions set by washington. among other things, arroyo must remain to be a loyal ally of the united states and that the philippines must support u.s. foreign policies such as the war against iraq. president arroyo must have been convinced that her administration may have satisfied what washington expects. so now, she is claiming what has been promised her.

here are those promises:

1. counterterrorism equipment and training: $30 million in new grant aid for quipment and training of armed forces of the philippines targeted at capabilities for countering terrorist groups within philippines.
2. development assistance to conflict areas: $30 million in new bilateral development assistance for mindanao and support for the peace process with the milf, as appropriate.
3. establishment of combat engineering unit: $25 million in new grant assistance to train and equip a combat engineering unit and provide other military needs in the war on terror. the engineering unit will be able to do civic action and humanitarian projects in conflict zones.
4. u.s. military support to philippine counterterrorism operations: agreement to provide u.s. military support to armed forces of the philippines-led operations against the abu sayyaf group.
5. support to philippine military mobility: 20 uh-1h helicopters, as they become available and funding for refurbishment and transport is secured; an additional 10 uh-1h helicopters to be provided to ensure sufficient spare parts.
6. comprehensive security review: launching of a comprehensive review of philippine security needs and how the united states can best support philippine military modernization and reform.
7. u.s. defense goods and services: up to $10 million in presidential drawdown authority for equipment, spare parts and maintenance.
8. major non-nato ally status: commitment to designate the philippines a major non-nato ally (mnna) to allow u.s. and philippines to work together on military research and development and give philippines greater access to american defense equipment and supplies.
9. reciprocal presidential visit: acceptance by president bush of president arroyo's invitation to visit manila in october 2003.
10. remittance facilitation initiative: launching of an initiative to facilitate and reduce transaction fees on remittances from overseas filipinos, which could save filipino workers as much as an estimated $300 million annually.
11. generalized system of preferences benefits: agreement for tariff-free, gsp benefits to 8 specific products requested by the philippines.
12. veterans benefits: commitment to support legislation extending new benefits to veterans lawfully residing in the united states, including: full rate service connected disability compensation; eligibility for burial at national cemeteries and burial benefits for new scouts; full rate dependence and indemnity compensation (dic) to the survivors of new scouts, commonwealth army veterans and guerrillas; and comprehensive health care eligibility to commonwealth army veterans and new scouts. commitment to support reauthorization for the regional veterans affairs office in manila. $500,000 in medical equipment to the veterans memorial medical center in quezon city to improve medical care for filipino veterans in the philippines.

out of the twelve items in this list of goodies from america, only two will directly benefit the people—items number 10 and 11. the rest are about building a strong american military subsidiary in southeast asia using the philippines as a hub. this has been the historical dynamics of the relationship between the united states of america and the republic of the philippines for the past 100 years.

the power elite of the philippines—where gloria macapagal-arroyo belongs—will, no doubt, continue to maintain this empire-tributary relationship. this will strengthen her political clout among the political-economic elite in the philippines. meanwhile, the pentagon will have a stronger influence, if not control, of the armed forces of the philippines. the u.s. will continue to have dominance over the natural resources of the philippines and the american people will always support their government's militaristic policies because it protects their "great american dream". because of these dynamics in the history of rp-us relations (a chronic illness!), the common people in the philippines will continue to suffer. the efforts of the various civil society movements who are teaching our people to embrace a culture of peace will experience more hardships in peacebuilding. the philippine society will continue to have a gun-oriented sense of security, an aspect of the culture of violence effectively exported by america to the rest of the world. along with many impoverished people throughout the globe who are similarly exploited by the american empire, many filipinos will die through the barrel of the gun.

while i am proud that the philippine president was recognized in the open halls of the united nations, i am embarrassed that she kowtowed to the head of the american empire behind closed doors.