Despite the vocal protests of hardcore leftwing groups, American soldiers in the Philippines are doing the job they were sent to do admirably well: To help the Philippine military hunt down and snuff out for good the notorious gangsters known as the Abu Sayyaf.

Anti-American protesters have been insistent in claiming that the return of US servicemen would bring with it a boom in prostitution and a host of other related social ills. But, as President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo pointed out weeks ago, US servicemen serving in the Philippines have been forbidden from procuring the services of local prostitutes, something women’s groups in the Philippines had been worried about for some time. It is a known fact that prostitution thrived around the former US bases in Subic and Clark when they were functioning there, but I think it is something that is hard to control when you have such a large population that is poor. Economic upliftment seems to be the answer to me to get these people out of the profession, not banning it.

In any event, a story this week on the Associated Press wire by Jim Gomez caught my eye. Entitled “US troops enter combat zone to treat wounded,” the story recounted how Green Beret soldiers helped rescue some Filipino troops that were trapped in a gun battle with Abu Sayyaf fighters on Tuesday. The overall tone of the article showed how relieved and happy Filipino troops were to finally have on the ground help from a friendly military power that is much better financed and trained.

The US military assistance to the Philippines in the form of around 600 ground troops has proven invaluable. Apart from training the Philippine military in the latest warfare techniques, the US military is providing vital night-vision capability with goggles that allow the Philippine military to operate efficiently in the dark. This is something they were previously unable to do. The US has also provided them with helicopters that can operate at night, another first for the Philippine military, which had to previously limit night-flights because it lacked the technical capacity to do so.

On top of providing training and new equipment, the US military is also providing the Philippine military with new intelligence in the form of aerial photography from spy planes and unmanned drones. It is also helping intercept mobile phone calls by Abu Sayyaf members, which provides important intelligence about their possible location, number of casualties and morale. Of course, the Abu Sayyaf must be using a code language now that they know the Americans are listening in to their phone conversations, but that code should be breakable.

While it is still too early to make a full assessment of the impact of the US troops in Mindanao, I feel confident that they will make all the difference in finally finishing off the menace of the Abu Sayyaf.

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Bicameral hearing on absentee voting ‘anticlimactic’

The bicameral hearing on an absentee voting bill held by Philippine senators and congressmen in Riyadh last Friday seemed anticlimactic.

I say anticlimactic because Senators Edgardo Angara, Aquilino Pimentel, Panfilo Lacson and Tito Sotto and Representatives Bellaflor Angara-Castillo and Augusto Syjuco arrived in Riyadh with their minds already decided that absentee voting was a must and that such a bill would be passed this year.

The devil was in the details, such as where would OFWs vote? On job sites, at Philippine missions, or through mail? How would they vote? At Philippine missions or through mail in ballots? And, who would count their votes? OFW groups abroad or the Comelec back in Manila?

In addition, there was the additional question peculiar to Saudi Arabia that OFW groups brought up about possible problems OFWs in the Kingdom might face if they had to vote on a Monday. Friday is the traditional day of rest in the Muslim world, and some OFWs had voiced concerns that some employers might not allow their Filipino workers time off from work to vote. Sen. Angara dispelled these fears by assuring them that the Philippine government would officially ask the Saudi government to instruct Saudi employers to allow Philippine citizens time off to vote in Philippine elections.

These are all of course valid questions that need to be worked out to minimize fraud and make voting as easy as possible for OFWs. Fraud though was foremost in the minds of the politicians; indeed it has been the main stumbling block to getting an absentee voting bill passed by Congress. After years of campaigning by various OFW groups, politicians finally admitted that they couldn’t deny OFWs any more the basic right of voting in Philippine elections.

Forgive me for being cynical here, but one wonders why these politicians flew all the way to Riyadh, and previously to Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong and Singapore, if their minds were already convinced of the need to grant OFWs the right to vote while abroad? To me it seems like an awful waste of Philippine taxpayers’ money. It would have made sense if some of them were still undecided on the issue and had serious reservations. But none of them were.

I know Congress is on its Easter recess, and perhaps these politicians thought that visiting countries with large OFW populations would be a nice way to spend this break.

Or perhaps they were craftily looking ahead to the 2004 elections and thinking with glee about all of the OFW votes they could get. As Sen. Aquilino Pimentel said in an interview with Arab News last week, the OFW vote will be a large swing vote since it is a vote that can’t easily be bought or influenced by politicians back home.

Despite my cynicism of politicians’ motives, I’m extremely happy that the absentee voting bill should be passed by June and be in effect for the 2004 elections. This is a right OFWs have fought for many years and a dream that will finally come true. Congratulations to all the OFW groups and individuals who campaigned so tirelessly and relentlessly for this to happen.