MANILA, Philippines—Part of Washington’s new arms shipments to the Philippines may once again fall into the hands of warlord friends of the Arroyo administration, militant groups warned on Friday.
The groups were reacting to reports that the US Congress had increased Washington's development and security aid to Manila for fiscal year 2010 to $135 million, up 13 percent from last year's $119.7 million.
..."American aid did, in fact, contribute to the arming of the warlord clan responsible for one of the most barbaric acts of mass murder in recent history. Should US taxpayer dollars go to a military involved in summary killings and torture or mass-murdering warlords?" Tinio told the Philippine Daily Inquirer...."Given the gross human rights abuses of the Arroyo administration and the fact that US weapons have been found in the possession of warlords in Maguindanao, increased US aid is unacceptable," Reyes said.
He noted that "with this latest action, the US government has once again ignored the realities in the Philippines and has in effect given its seal of approval to the dictator and warlord-coddler Gloria Arroyo."
2. palace vows to probe how gov't arms, ammo landed in hands of Ampatuans -- could we get a scapegoat please??
MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang Thursday vowed a swift investigation to determine how government-issued armaments landed in the hands of the powerful Ampatuan clan, blamed for the election-related massacre of 57 people.
Gary Olivar, deputy presidential spokesperson, agreed with former Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro that it was not difficult to resolve the matter, given the markings on the recovered firearms and ammunition.
“It’s just a matter of time and, hopefully, it will take sooner than later to get to the bottom, the origin of these firearms and ammunition,” Olivar told reporters.
Olivar said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was determined to settle the problem in Maguindanao.
“The President, together with everyone else in this country and perhaps even the rest of the world, is interested in getting to the bottom of what happened last Nov. 23,” he said.
...“You don’t need an extensive probe to do it,” he said. “Every delivery has a route. Those recovered ammunition have lot numbers. By simply looking at the bullet casing, we can easily trace the last supply officer who handled those bullets.”
...and that poor slob will be the Lynndie England of this sordid affair... - ed.
read more @ inquirer
3. US "development" projects in Maguindanao to resume shortly
MANILA, Philippines—Expect US development projects in Maguindanao to resume shortly, said outgoing US ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID), which is overseeing Washington's projects in that province in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, will be back there as soon as they can, Kenney told reporters.
The projects include, among others, building classrooms, school libraries, roads and boat landing areas, and putting up solar panels.
Kenney said the US embassy in Manila and USAID were "monitoring (the situation in Maguindanao) day by day."
"In the very instant we think it's the right thing to do, we will be back there," she said.
Kenney noted Maguindanao folk "need us more than ever and as things progressively settle down, we want our work back there."
Earlier, the American envoy said the Nov. 23 massacre, which left 57 people including 30 journalists dead, prompted the US government to suspend its projects in Maguindanao.
Kenney said she did not want any of USAID and embassy employees to get hurt.
She said it was "normal when you have a massacre like that and you don't know who's behind it or what happened."
Kenney assured that "as soon as it looks like it's safe, we will be back at work. I don't want to suspend the projects any longer."
Early this week, US embassy spokesperson Rebecca Thompson told the INQUIRER that despite the lifting of martial law in Maguindanao, Washington's development projects there remained indefinitely suspended.
USAID programs in the province were "on hold until we feel confident about the safety of our personnel that work on the development projects."
But "the rest of our development projects across Mindanao continue," Thompson said.
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