In exchange, the U.S. propped up the bankrupt, illegitimate Arroyo regime.

U.S. military assistance to the Philippines increased dramatically. IBON Foundation computed that U.S. military assistance increased 1,111 percent from 2001 to 2002. This helped the Arroyo regime to strengthen the AFP and the PNP to suppress dissent and to buy the loyalty of both institutions.

The figure is much more substantial when the other types of aid and assistance are included. Below is a table provided by IBON Foundation showing the increases in U.S. aid and assistance to the Philippines.

Economic aid from the U.S. also increased in 2001. It helped keep the Philippine economy afloat especially since the Arroyo regime was under pressure for its inability to manage the financial and fiscal crisis. Economic and military aid was highest in 2003 when President Arroyo was under heavy pressure forcing her to announce that she would not be running in the 2004 elections.

It is worth noting that aid has always been a policy instrument of the U.S. It suspended economic aid to South Vietnam when it was working covertly with dissatisfied Vietnamese generals who were then mounting a coup d’ etat against Ngo Dinh Diem.

On the other hand, data from IBON Foundation shows that U.S. military aid to the Marcos regime increased 120 percent from 1972 to 1973 right after Martial Law was declared. U.S. economic aid also increased three-fold from $1041.2 million during the period 1969-72 to $ 2922 million during the period 1973-76.

U.S. support for the Arroyo regime has been steady even when President Arroyo was deeply enmeshed in a crisis and was almost ousted in 2005. Its political support did not waiver even when President Arroyo declared a state of national emergency in February 2006. The support of the U.S. is one of the biggest factors that keeps the Arroyo regime in power.

While the U.S. can be assured that its imperialist interests would continue to be promoted and protected no matter which faction of the ruling elite is placed in power, it found in Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo a most loyal puppet in its “global war on terror.” In fact, when the U.S. attacked Iraq, on March 20, 2003, almost unilaterally because of the refusal of its major allies, except Britain, to condone much less participate in the invasion, the Arroyo regime immediately declared, “We are part of the coalition of the willing…We are part of (the) global coalition against terrorism.”

In May 2003, President Arroyo signed a U.S.-RP Non-Surrender Agreement thereby granting U.S. forces in the country immunity from prosecution before the International Criminal Court (ICC). The Philippines has refused, up to the present, to sign the Rome Statute which created the ICC, in deference to the desires of the U.S.

In the “global war on terror,” the Bush and Arroyo regimes found a common cause.

In the “global war on terror,” U.S. President Bush, and the hawks in his cabinet, aims to project U.S. military hegemony; attack countries and groups challenging its hegemony and resisting globalization; and prop up the U.S. economy and Bush’s flagging popularity domestically.

With Macapagal-Arroyo’s support to and emulation of the U.S. “war on terror” it aims to get more economic and military aid from the U.S.; ensure the continuous political support of the U.S. to its regime; and have the means to attack its enemies in order to perpetuate itself in power amid persistent questions regarding its legitimacy and calls for its ouster.

It is in the interest of the U.S. to keep Macapagal-Arroyo in power unless it becomes too costly politically. The Marcos dictatorship had the backing of the U.S. until it felt that things would go out of hand if Marcos remained in power.

It is not a mere coincidence that after the sudden surge in joint military exercises and training in 2001, Oplan Bantay Laya, the Arroyo regime’s counterinsurgency program was launched in 2002. It was also in 2002 that there was a 1,111 percent increase in U.S. military assistance for use by the regime in counterinsurgency. The Arroyo regime also had U.S. backing when it declared a state of national emergency and a total war against the Left in 2005.

In the Left, the U.S. and the Arroyo regime found a common enemy. The legal democratic movement is comprehensively anti-imperialist, anti-fascist, and anti-feudal. It is steadfastly opposed imperialist plunder and oppression of the Filipino people. Organizations comprising the legal democratic movement, such as the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance) and its member organizations such as Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU or May 1st Movement), Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP or Peasant Movement of the Philippines), GABRIELA, among others, and progressive party lists such as Bayan Muna (People First), Anakpawis (Toiling Masses), and GABRIELA Women’s Party, are the most vocal and consistent in opposing U.S. military presence and intervention in the Philippines. They comprise the biggest and most consistent movement working for the ouster of the Arroyo regime and for a patriotic and democratic program.

Budget proponent an illegitimate president – Beltran

A Call for Moral Leadership*

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