Shared Terrorist Threat Brings U.S., Philippines Together by Larry Luxner Exactly 100 years after American troops put down a long-running insurrection in the Philippines, the former U.S. colony has emerged as one of Washingtonís strongest allies in the struggle against Islamic-inspired terrorism in Southeast Asia. ìBilateral relations are the best theyíve ever been in recent history,î said Manilaís man in Washington, Philippine Ambassador Albert F. del Rosario. ìThis was demonstrated by the fact that our president [Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo] was only the third world leader, and the first Asian leader, to be invited by Bush for a state visit. During that visit [in May], we were granted the status of major non-NATO ally, which gives us priority in terms of being able to obtain military assistance.î Last year, that assistance came to $100 million. This year, the Philippines will get $150 million. Since independence in 1946, the country has received more than $5 billion in U.S. economic aid, including more than $1 billion in food aid. Perhaps itís fitting that the Philippines should be the recipients of such largesse. Following the 1898 Spanish-American W ar, the United States found itself in control of three former Spanish colonies: the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Cuba. The Cubans gained their independence in 1902, and the following year U.S. troops captured Philippine rebel leader Emilio Aguinaldo, pretty much ending an armed uprising by the very people the Americans had liberated from Spain. But the Philippines didnít achieve full independence until July 4, 1946. Puerto Rico, meanwhile, became a commonwealth in 1952 but for all intent and purposes remains a U.S. colony. ìLike the Puerto Ricans, we share many values with the United States: a belief in democracy, free enterprise and social justice,î said Rosario. ìThe U.S. is our largest foreign investor and trading partner. Weíve had a mutual defense treaty with the United States for over 50 years, and our education, health and judicial systems are all patterned after the United States.î The Philippines encompasses more than 7,000 islands, and the 2000 census recorded a population of 76.5 million. At present growth rates, by 2017 the country will have 100 million inhabitants. Rosario said that even though many Filipinos, including himself, have Spanish names, few actually speak Spanish. English is far more prevalent. In fact, although Tagalog is the national language of the Philippines, embassy staffers generally address each other in English, not Tagalog. Rosarioís English is impeccable, thanks to having spent most of his childhood in New York City. In 1961, Rosario graduated from New York University with a bachelorís degree in economics while working for the post office, a printing company and the school libraryóall at the same time. Rosario returned to the Philippines and spent the next 40 years in his countryís private sector, working in such industries as banking, insurance, real estate, shipping, pharmaceuticals, consumer products and telecommunications. An ally of President Arroyo, Rosario presented his credentials to President Bush on Nov. 8, 2001. The ambassador and his wife, Gretchen de Venecia, have five children. All of them live in the Philippines except for a daughter pursuing her psychotherapy degree in New York. In addition to the embassy in Washington, Rosario also oversees 10 consulates in New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Atlanta, New Orleans, Houston, Honolulu, Guam and Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands. ìAfter 1991, when the [military] basing agreement was not renewed, the Philippines fell off the American radar screen,î Rosario said. ìBoth the U.S. and the Philippine Senate felt there was a change in the strategic environment. The Cold War had ended, and the U.S. was no longer looking for permanent bases.î In fact, the Philippines had been getting more than $200 million a year just for rental of the sprawling Clark Air Base and Subic Bay Naval Complex, and perhaps another billion or so in indirect economic benefits. ìBut after 9/11, things changed,î Rosario said. ìPresident Arroyo became the first Asian leader to take a position with the U.S. against terrorism. We were part of Operation Emerging Freedom in Iraq and a member of the ëcoalition of the willing.íî And now that the war is over, ìwe are trying to position ourselves for the reconstruction of Iraq,î the ambassador said, noting that when companies such as Bechtel and Halliburton win massive defense contracts, they generally employ large numbers of Philippine engineers, construction workers and other laborers to get the job done. Rosario said Arroyoís popularity ratings ìhave improved significantlyî since her state visit to Washington in May. ìWe have two candidates who have expressed their intentions to run in the May 2004 presidential elections and six others testing the waters,î he said. ìIn the latest surveys, [Arroyo] has emerged as the strongest contender.î In mid-July, however, Arroyo suffered an embarrassment when Indonesian explosives expert Fathur Rahman al-Ghozi and two cellmates escaped from prison. Al-Ghozi, who was working for the Jemaah Islamiah network, is linked to a number of terrorist acts in Southeast Asia, including a series of bombings in Manila on Dec. 30, 2000, that left 22 people dead and more than 100 injured. ìThese guys virtually walked out of a maximum-security detention cell, in the middle of a police camp in Manila,î Rosario said. ìThe president herself attributes this farcical escape to the ineptness of the police force and the surrounding corruption. There is a full, nationwide manhunt going on, as well as a review of the reforms that have been instituted to upgrade our law enforcement agencies.î Barely two weeks later, a group of 70 junior officers and 200 enlisted men staged a failed coup against the Arroyo government, seizing a Manila shopping mall for 19 hours before backing down. No one was hurt in the incident, which focused attention on corruption within the military. ìFrom the Filipino standpoint, Arroyo emerged stronger than before because the mutineers werenít able to generate support, and that also enhanced the legitimacy of her government,î said Rosario. The ambassador freely admits that ìthe reason we got closer to the U.S. is because we had our own problems of terrorism in the south with [the terrorist group] Abu Sayyaf and have sought the cooperation and assistance of the U.S. We also have a 25-year-old problem with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. We are now in the process, however, of trying to arrive at a peaceful solution with the facilitation of Malaysia and the financial assistance of the United States.î According to the new Global Terrorism Index issued by the World Markets Research Centre, the Philippines ranked fifth out of 186 countries most likely to be the target of a massive terrorist attack within the next 12 months. The London-based think tankówhich issued its report on Aug. 18óranked Colombia, Israel, Pakistan and the United States as the only countries facing a greater terror risk than the Philippines. Yet Rosario plays down that risk, saying the terrorist problem ìis isolated and confined to the southern islands. The rest of the country is stable, and people donít consider it a problem.î Despite an August 2000 car bombing that left his countryís ambassador to Indonesia severely injuredóan attack in which al-Ghozi is also implicatedóRosario said the Philippine Embassy in Washington is not a target of Islamic terrorists, and that he does not feel personally threatened. ìWe are working with the rest of the region to fight terrorism,î he said. ìWeíve entered into an agreement with ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations], and we have a trilateral agreement with Indonesia and Malaysia that basically addresses transnational crimes such as terrorism.î Earlier this year, the Bush administration announced it would send 1,700 Marines and Special Forces to help the Philippine Armed Forces fight Abu Sayyaf and other Muslim guerrilla groups. But the deployment was shelved when Filipino opposition leaders insisted that it violated a 1986 constitutional ban on foreign troops. In spite of the countryís terrorist threat, the Philippine economy is doing well, with gross domestic product growth for the first half of 2003 estimated at 4.8 percentóthe highest in Asia after China and Vietnam. Last yearís GDP came to $89 billion, which translates into a per-capita income of around $1,170. Remittances are a major source of foreign exchange. At any given time, about 10 percent of all Filipinos are living and w orking overseasómore than a million of them in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other Middle Eastern nations. Rosario said that another 2.5 million Filipinos live in the United States, nearly half of them in California. Heavy concentrations can also be found in Hawaii, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Texas and Florida. Filipino Americans, who send home around $5 billion in remittances every year, now constitute the second-largest immigrant group in the United States after Mexicans. However, those numbers havenít translated into political power in the United States just yet. ìWe are trying to unite the Filipino community. To have power, you have to be united,î Rosario said, noting that only a few Filipino Americans, such as former Hawaii Gov. Ben Cayetano, have risen to political prominence. On the other hand, Rosario said, ìAround 70 percent of all foreign nurses in the United States are Filipino, as are most of the schoolteachers. We have a nice way about us, and I think itís become an area where Filipinos are able to see a better future for themselves.î Just as the United States and the Philippines share many basic values, their leaders have plenty in common. Both are the children of presidents: Arroyoís father, Diosdado Macapagal, was president of the Philippines in the early 1960s. Both have also adopted a get-tough attitude against terrorists. And as The Washington Post recently pointed out, Arroyo and Bush were ìboth inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2001, taking office with the controversial aid of their countriesí highest courtsóBush when the U.S. Supreme Court voted to halt the Florida recount, and Arroyo, when the Philippine Supreme Court declared the previous president, Joseph Estrada, unable to rule and swore in Arroyo, who was vice president.î Likewise, Rosario has at least one thing in common with Secretary of State Colin Powell. Asked if he would remain Manilaís man in Washington in the event Arroyo loses her re-election bid, the ambassador wouldnít answer directly, saying only, ìI serve at the pleasure of the president.î Larry Luxner is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.