ZAMBOANGA CITY, 2 June 2007 — The largest city in the southern Philippines yesterday rejected a proposal to host a joint anti-terror training by American and Filipino troops, saying the plan would only attract terror attacks.
Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said any exercise involving US troops would not only put the city on the list of possible targets by Muslim militants but also by communist rebels.
“The mere presence of US soldiers is like a magnet for terrorists,” said Duterte, who claimed that a senior government official phoned him about the proposal.
Davao has been traumatized by two bomb attacks attributed to Jemaah Islamiyah militants in early 2003. Some 22 were killed and 117 injured when a bomb exploded at the Davao International Airport’s terminal on March 3, 2003. On April 2 of that same year, another blast killed 15 people and injured more than 40 others at the Sasa Wharf.
Duterte made the statement as US and Philippine navies began war exercises in waters off Zamboanga City, Basilan Island and the Sulu Archipelago in the western side of the southern Philippines.
US Ambassador Kristie Kenney visited Zamboanga Çity yesterday and formally opened the 13th “Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training,” known as Carat 2007, a combined naval tactical operations exercise.
The exercise also focuses on relationship building through social and community service events such as providing free medical, dental, and veterinary care in host communities.
Kenney also inspected the USS Harper’s Ferry, one of three American naval ships participating in the exercise, and met with Lt. Gen. Eugenio Cedo, chief of the military’s Western Mindanao Command, to discuss on how to further expand joint humanitarian and development programs in the troubled region.
Mayor Celso Lobregat welcomed Kenney, who also toured several US-funded projects for development in the port city. Kenney also visited poor Muslim communities and led officials in distributing some 42,000 books to school libraries.
The books were donated under the Education Awareness Support Effort program of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and will go to more than 130 schools, allowing students to have access to encyclopedias, dictionaries, literature and short stories.
She visited the island of Pangapuyan Island, a remote community that received electricity through a program supported by the USAID under the Amore Project, which aims to provide electricity to more than 400 remote and conflict-affected villages in Mindanao.
Amore also announced an additional $2 million to the program. Kenney also inspected a hanging footbridge in Tumaga village which was built so villagers can safely and easily cross a river and improve their access to needed health, social and economic services in the town center.
The USAID, through its Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) program, built the new 30-meter long pedestrian footbridge to replace a deteriorating wooden bridge. After a short tour in the village, Kenney also attended a roundtable discussion on tax collection with Lobregat and Zamboanga business leaders.
Zamboanga City is one of 16 Mindanao cities participating in USAID’s and The Asia Foundation’s Transparent and Accountable Governance (TAG) Project. Under TAG, participating city governments have committed themselves to enacting specific governance reforms to improve services and reduce corruption. Zamboanga City chose to reform its processes for collecting business taxes and issuing business permits.
