MANILA, 3 October 2004 — Filipino Lawmakers yesterday bristled at US President George W. Bush’s reference to the Philippines as one of the fronts in the US-led war on terror, warning that it’s repercussions could be damaging to the already-struggling local economy.
“We’ve been hit as collateral damage in the Bush-Kerry verbal war,” said Recto, referring to the debate on Friday between the US president and his Democratic Party challenger, Sen. John Kerry, which was watched by an estimated 62 million people worldwide.
Replying to Kerry’s remark that Bush erred in going after Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein but allowed Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden to escape capture, Bush said the US and its allies were making progress in the war on terror, and that “the front on this war is more than just one place.”
He said the Philippines was a “major battleground” in the war against terror.
Recto said the statement was unfair for the Philippines because it was “false,” and damaging because it drives away investors.
“If Mindanao is being referred to, all is quiet in the Southern front; in fact, it’s not a front anymore. Guns have long been turned into plowshares in that area. Peace is about to be won,” he said,” he said.
In a joint press release, two congressmen from Mindanao also slammed Bush for “put(ting) the country in a bad light before the international community.”
“It is unfortunate that instead of acknowledging our solid achievements to eliminate terror, President Bush undermined them and even put our country in an embarrassing position as the second terror front,” House Deputy Speaker Gerry Salapuddin (Lakas, Basilan) and Benasing Macarambon Jr. (NPC, Lanao del Sur) said.
“It is worth mentioning that our terror problem is miniscule compared to that of the US and some parts of Asia. Obviously, he (Bush) overlooked this fact when he made a false claim about the country’s position on the terror front,” added Salapuddin, a former separatist guerrilla commander in the 1970s.
Salapuddin said Bush’s claim was not surprising considering that the US president’s intelligence advisers had a history of coming out with outmoded or flawed reports.
Macarambon said the country had been making headway in its anti-terror campaign, citing the military’s success in cutting the Abu Sayyaf strength by 65 percent from a high of 1,300 in 2001 to 396 by end of June 2004.
Macarambon said even Congress had contributed to the anti-terror effort by passing the Anti-Money Laundering Act, which was intended, among other things, to choke the flow of terrorist funds.
The Philippines has also adopted a 16-point counter-terrorism program, organized the Counter-Terrorism Intelligence Center to consolidate information on terrorism, and taken active participation in various counter-terrorism efforts in the Southeast Asian and Asia-Pacific regions.
“These undertakings prove our relentless campaign against terror on the local and international fronts,” Macarambon said. (Additional input from Inquirer News Service)
