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Ringing
welcome for Bush in the Philippines
By Marco Garrido
MANILA - When US President George W Bush visits the Philippines this Saturday
(October 18), the Bells of Balangiga are one item unlikely to be included in
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's agenda. The historic bells were
taken as war trophies by US soldiers in 1901. During the Philippine-American
war (1899-1902), Filipino guerrillas fighting for independence used the bells
to signal their attacks on US positions. In one bloody incident, on September
28, 1901, the guerrillas ambushed 75 US troops and massacred 46. US forces
retaliated by razing the town of Balangiga and taking the bells.
Brigadier-General Jacob Smith infamously ordered his men to reduce the province
of Samar, which included Balangiga, into "a howling wilderness". Tens of
thousands of Filipinos were massacred as a result.
Although the Philippine government has been petitioning for the bells to be
restored since the 1950s, they remain on display in an air force base in
Cheyenne, Some Americans oppose a return, contending that the bronze
bells have come to symbolize their fallen coountrymen. Filipinos, however,
regard the Bells of Balangiga in a way not unlike how Americans regard the
Liberty Bell: as symbolic of their struggle for independence. Such a
fundamental conflict of interpretation would seem to belie both Arroyo's claim
of a "genuinely mutual [Philippine-American] relationship that transcends the
colonial ties of the past" and US ambassador to the Philippines Francis
Ricciardone's hailing the "partnership and maturity of a relationship based on
equals". It would suggest, rather, the persistence of a deeply unequal
relationship that remains highly charged with history.
A charged relationship
The US period of Philippine history, lasting from 1899 to 1946, has left the
Philippines with a kind of colonial hangover. While feelings toward the US run
the gamut, it is the intensity of these feelings that distinguish them. Bush's
imminent visit is certainly eliciting this whole range of emotions, and with an
intensity heightened by the controversial figure of Bush himself.
Filipinos suffer no lack of love for the US. What they consider their "special
relationship" with the US is a source of jealously-guarded pride. The
Philippine government has spent months and millions of pesos preparing for
Bush's visit. When it was leaked that National Security Advisor Condoleezza
Rice reportedly advised the president to consider skipping the Philippines
because security guarantees were tenuous, pundits and even government officials
rushed to scold her presumptuousness. When it was finally confirmed that Bush
would visit, although for less time than initially planned (for eight hours
instead of 36), Foreign Secretary Blas Ople made the point of emphasizing that
this was five hours more than he would spend in Thailand, Indonesia, or
Australia for that matter.
However, the Philippines feels that its love is not reciprocated, and hence
tends to interpret even the most minor slight as lethal injury. It has not
assuaged its sensitivities that security preparations for Bush's visit have
been overtaken by the US Secret Service (USSS), with Philippine security forces
relegated to a largely secondary role. An advance USSS team has already arrived
in the country and cased the Batasan Pambansa, the forum where Bush is expected
to address the Philippine Congress. They have micro-managed the visit, even to
the point of specifying exactly with whom Bush can shake hands.
They would have frisked the whole Congress themselves had the representatives
not drawn the line. In one of the more polite objections, Senator Aquilino
Pimentel noted how it would be "quite odd for the owners of the house to be
frisked by the guests". (Other representatives simply fumed, "If they lay their
hands on me ...") Of course, Filipino prickliness over US high-handedness is
not without basis. If Filipinos don't think the Americans trust them, it's
probably because they don't - although, of course, given the incredible escape
of the (now deceased) Jemaah Islamiyah bomb maker Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi from a
maximum security prison last July, this, too, is not without basis (see
A ticking time bomb walks to freedom, July
26).
Anti-US forces have been as busy preparing for Bush's visit as those who would
welcome him. Filipino resentment toward the US is partly a reaction against
Filipino love for it. The pride the Philippines takes in its relationship with
the US is interpreted as undermining the pride it should have for itself as an
independent nation. Its continuing love for and dependence on the US rankles
because it seems to expose its own lack of self-love and independence. Hence
anti-US protests are largely nationalist in character and much of the ire
behind them concerns perceptions of continued Filipino subordination - as the
writing on the walls along the major highway says, "Filipinas: US Puppet".
Bush, as the architect behind the controversial "war on terror", arouses
particularly vehement ire. Leftist groups such as the peasant organization
Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas plan to set ablaze 100 US flags to protest
Bush's visit. The flags are intended to represent 100 years of Filipino
resistance to US colonial and neo-colonial domination. Leftist congressional
representatives reportedly plan to disrupt Bush's speech before the Philippine
Congress. They have been warned against "embarrassing the guest and the host",
but the swell of anti-US resentment will be hard to conceal when even the vice
president, Teofisto Guingona, will be excusing himself to attend a 16-hour
prayer vigil against "continuing US intervention in the Philippines".
This resentment has veered into outright threats on Bush's life. The New
People's Army (NPA) and Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), two organizations the US has
tagged as terrorist, have both vowed to launch attacks during the visit. The
NPA has since rescinded its vow, with spokesman Gregorio Rosal contending that
"while Bush may deserve the death sentence", the NPA had no "immediate" plans
to kill him. The ASG, however, maintained that it would be Bush's "worst
nightmare".
Partners in war
The "war on terror" has presented both countries the opportunity to fortify a
relationship that has languished since the Philippine Senate kicked the US
military out of its bases in Clark and Subic in 1992. Particularly, the war
presents Arroyo and Bush the opportunity to fortify their administrations,
whose popularity has been flagging: for Bush, because of the worsening
situation in Iraq; for Arroyo, because of the worsening situation at home. Both
presidents will be running for re-election in 2004; both have made the "war on
terror" the defining campaign of their administrations; both need (though not
equally) the other's endorsement for their continuing campaigns as part of the
war - in Iraq for Bush, in Mindanao for Arroyo - as well as for their own
campaigns for re-election.
Bush's visit will allow both countries to formalize a strict quid pro quo
around enhancing capacities to wage the "war on terror". For the Philippines,
these capacities are primarily military. In addition to the $100 million in
military aid Bush promised Arroyo when she visited Washington last May, the US
has recently named the Philippines "a major non-NATO US ally". This status,
extended only to a select group of nations (including Japan, South Korea and
Israel), allows broader parameters for security cooperation and confers
priority in receiving military aid. In the spirit of heightened defense
cooperation, the Philippine government will also be asking for 30 military
helicopters and 30,000 assault rifles (M16s), as well as substantial financial
support (totaling $30 million) for any peace agreement it signs with the Moro
Islamic Liberation Front.
For the US, the Philippines offers support primarily in the form of endorsement
for its wars. Bush's visit is billed as a gesture of thanks to Arroyo for her
support during the war on Iraq. It is, of course, also intended to ensure that
support for the occupation of Iraq and the continuing "war on terror".
Regarding his Asia tour, Dana Dillon, senior policy analyst at the Heritage
Foundation, notes that Bush is "looking for more flags in Iraq". To this end,
he can certainly count on Manila.
However, quid pro quo over the "war on terror" does not necessarily mark a more
mature and equal partnership between the two nations. Reframing the
Philippine-US relationship around the war, by tightening paternal bonds, may
only intensify imbalances of love and power, and hence, further
misunderstanding. Renewed closeness with the US has encouraged Philippine
expectations to surge beyond the strict quid pro quo over war exigencies.
Already, the Philippine government has drawn a lengthy Christmas list of issues
with which it wants US help, including everything but the Bells of Balangiga.
The list includes (but is not limited to) $7 million for the Anti-Money
Laundering Council, $2 million for the Philippine Veterans Memorial Center, a
cleanup of the toxic wastes left behind by the US military in Clark and Subic,
and even support for its bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council.
Where the US may consider as its commitments strictly those set down in
writing, the Philippines sees a relationship with much wider and more flexible
parameters, one characterized not by an exchange of specific items but of
loyalty for patronage; material proofs of favor in exchange for unwavering
support.
When Bush visits on Saturday, this support will be tempered by the spectacle of
protest. Renewed closeness with the US, especially around the "war on terror",
has galvanized, if not enlarged, the forces of anti-US resentment. This is not
the same Philippines that welcomed Dwight Eisenhower in the 1960s. At that
time, the US president could tour Manila in an open Cadillac. Now, however, in
anticipation of Bush's visit, a satellite will track the president's movements
from space, spy planes will survey the jungles for possible rebel offensives
against US positions and 10,000 police will be deployed on the ground, as well
as a military contingent and the USSS. Despite the government's profession of
support, the Philippines would seem to be a dangerous place for at least one
American. Now if only he returned the Bells of Balangiga.
(Copyright 2003 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact
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