Excerpt from transcript of Foreign Press Center briefing with Deputy Spokesman, U.S. Department of State Adam Ereli.
Topic: “U.S. foreign policy update”
The Washington Foreign Press Center, Washington D.C.
3:00 p.m. Est,Thursday, April 6, 2006
QUESTION: Thank you. Jennie Ilustre, from Malaya news daily. Last time you were here, we still didn’t have an ambassador for —
MR. ERELI: Ambassador to the Philippines.
QUESTION: So it’s now —
MR. ERELI: I think we do now, though.
QUESTION: Yeah, Kristie Kenney.
MR. ERELI: Yeah, great lady.
QUESTION: Okay. How would the presence of an ambassador help in addressing terrorism and threats to democracy in the Philippines, specifically speeding up a peace agreement, specifically speeding up a peace agreement in Mindanao or southern Philippines, where terrorism is a growing problem and also, the threats to democracy as noted by New York Times yesterday in its editorial.
MR. ERELI: Well, those are — frankly, those are issues that — where the United States can, I think, be of assistance and counsel to the Philippines, but the answers to those questions lie in the hands in the — with the decisions of the Philippine authorities. A peace agreement with Mindanao is — and with the rebels and the insurgents in that area is something that the Philippine authorities are going to have to manage.
Now, where we come in and where an ambassador, obviously, has a critical role, is in helping to bring to bear, I think, the full weight of the U.S. Government in support of number one, counterterror operations, whether that be assistance programs, training programs, programs of cooperation and information-sharing or interdiction of financial flows, et cetera, et cetera.
So the ambassador plays an important role in there — in that respect and obviously, in respect of — representative of the Government of the Philippines and the United States’ views and interaction with United States officials. But the final answer is going to be provided by the Philippine leadership, which we can’t be a substitute for.
from what I read in the newspapers,
US might have another agenda in the
Philippines, in Mindanao in particular.
It’s the old communist bogey, given a
new name because of 9/11. The agenda
has hegemonic significance, with the
permanent goal of US to maintain its
number one world status, number one in the
WORLD’S political, social and economic sphere.
since Gloria’s massive cheating in the
2004 elections, preceded by a continuing
plunder of the country’s wealth by close
relatives and business cronies, aided by
the Supreme Court, the uniformed forces,
and all AMPLY rewarded cabinet functionaries, TERRORISM in the Philippines became what it really is: a concoction of Gloria, aided and trumpeted by MEDIA and the government agencies involved (for budget purposes?)and to create a scenario that these agencies mandated to serve and protect the people ARE DOING THEIR JOBS. When actually THEY ARE NOT.
WHEN THE TROOPS ARE OUT THERE IN THE STREETS LOOKING FOR RALLYISTS; THE TERRORIST WENT UNDERGROUND; OR ARE THE AUTHORITIES SO BUSY NOW TO DO SOME TERRORISTS’ DIRTY TRICKS?
Bombings and killing incidents cannot be
denied. About 70 per cent of which had been
ascribed to or alleged to be perpetrated by
the authorities themselves, which remained
unanswered or disproved by those accused.
The justice system is so flawed that it can
not be expected that cases against those in
the powers-that-be cabal can be initiated or will prosper to completion.
The terrorists who were apprehended and
presented to the public, are perceived by the public and their relatives to be the victims
themselves of government terrorism. There might be one or two but the public remembers no presented or accused terrorist to be sentenced and punished. Quite a number of Kidnappers and terrorists were alleged to be summarily executed. Relatives, human rights
organizations and militant groups are now
filing cases against the authorities allegedly responsible for the massacre. OF COURSE, THE CASES WILL NOT PROSPER.
The US Ambassador will be preoccupied with WATCHING the expenditure of US materials and personnel to prepare for the future while troops are temporarily busy training the local uniformed forces. The US ambassador is expected to see to it that the US beachead established in Mindanao is in tip-top shape and battle ready for a fight having nothing to do with TERRORISTS.
Gloria is grateful for this. she will donate
and bargain half of the country for a President for life tenure, for the continuation of her children and relatives in power.
In the meantime, both the armed forces and its enemy-for-its-“budget,” the NPA are busy
trying to stop cannibalism in its ranks. Mao
may have said, the army runs on its stomach, but he did not add, once an army starts eating each own members, that army is sick to the stars that command it. Joema may have had his bloodbath, Senga might have his own too. SOON.
The police, the soldiers and the officers have reasons to feel dehumanized, Gloria had just cancelled their rights in the constitution.
From the stars to the foot soldier patch, they all have been declared robots by Gloria, probably not because she wants it but because that’s how she sees their behavior. MOST OF THEM ARE BEHAVING LIKE ROBOTS.
E-mail from Phinky:
HI ,MISS ELLEN!
I’M SENDING THIS PRINT REGARDING THE ARROYO–NEWYORK TIMES AND SOMEONE TRYING TO CLEANOUT BUT SORRY TO SAY NOTHING CAN CLEAN HER OUT MASYADO NA SYANG
MABABA PARA PATAASIN ULIT AND I AGREE WITHE THE CBCP SILANG NAKAUPO LANG ANG MAKI-KINABANG!
THANK YOU FOR ENTERTAINING MY EMAILS AND MORE ENLIGHTENING OPINION LETTER
FROM YOU..KEEP IT UP !!
Amb. Baja is doing everything to have his stay at the U.N. extended. Kaya sumisipsip ng husto.
But no dice. The position has been committed to former Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario Davide.
ellen
so many or about all of our bureaucrats are
misinformed, especially those at the higher
levels, they have the police and AFP Generals
(not all but about all) mentality probably correctly perceived by Gloria. They thought
once promoted they lost their right to speak
out or must remain silent about the shenanigans
of thieving bosses.
amb baja is one of them, a shining example
of them who think that the last item in
their duty statement, IS NOT, to perform
other duties as may be assigned to them
from time to time, BUT SEE EVIL, HEAR NO
EVIL AND SPEAK NO EVIL against my boss.
THAT IS WORST THAN ELBERT HUBBARD’S DISCOURSE
ON LOYALTY.
THESE BUREAUCRATS DON’T KNOW THAT IF THEY
CAN’T STAND THE HEAT OF THIEVES IN THE KITCHEN,
THEY CAN DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. THEY CAN
EVEN BURN THE KITCHEN IF THE HEAT IS DOING
SO MUCH HARM TO THE COOKS.
TO CORRECT MYSELF, I MISSED THE WORD “NO”
TO READ: SEE NO EVIL, HEAR NO EVIL, …
ALSO: THEY CAN DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
THEY CAN EVEN BURN THE THIEVES (not the
kitchen) CAUSING THE HEAT IN THE KITCHEN.
Jay, it’s because they are thinking of only their own interest. How to maintain the “good” life that they are enjoying at the expense of the Filipino people. In Baja’s case at the expense of professionalism in the DFA. Just like in the military, for every overstaying diplomat, there’s one foreign service officer whose promoton is being stunted.
But irony of this is Baja will be replaced by another past retirement Arroyo crony: Hilario Davide.
This also exposes what Davide, who is looked up by civil society as upright and decent. It just shows that he is no different from the other selfish government officials, who have no qualms at stepping on other people to advance their interest.
L Baja of the UN has done a great thing to promote to the whole world about our only country Philippinies. This is so called a great promotion to show to the worlrd that after all those noises created against the goverment, Philippines is still on the move to recovery as represented by strong peso and the continuing rapid reforms to improve at least. Something is being done. Sad to say that there are still a lot of mouth that barks on the negative point of view of making the reputation acceptable to the world.Mabuhay ka mr Baja.
Nobody is indispensable.