U.S. to give $55m to southern RP: Arroyo<\/p>\n
Agence France-Presse, Cotabato, Philippines<\/p>\n
United States President George W. Bush has pledged up to US$55
\nmillion in development aid to the troubled southern Philippines,
\nwhere economic growth has remained stagnant over years of Muslim
\ninsurgency, President Gloria Arroyo said on Friday.<\/p>\n
Arroyo said the main southern island of Mindanao was a top
\npriority in her discussions with Bush in a state visit to
\nWashington in November, during which she also received pledges of
\nmilitary support in her war to crush the Abu Sayyaf group.<\/p>\n
\"While President Bush expressed support for our campaign
\nagainst the Abu Sayyaf, he also said it was important to address
\nthe root of economic and social problems in Mindanao to improve
\npeace and pursue social development in Muslim communities,\"
\nArroyo told a press conference while on a visit here.<\/p>\n
\"Bush announced that his assistance for Mindanao will reach
\n$55 million,\" she added.<\/p>\n
Separately, the World Bank has also pledged to pump in some
\n$45 million to the south.<\/p>\n
The funds are to go to development projects to be administered
\nby the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), a Muslim
\nself-rule area in Mindanao.<\/p>\n
Arroyo on Friday thanked the Muslim separatist Moro Islamic
\nLiberation Front (MILF) for showing sincerity in peace talks with
\nManila and for publicly distancing itself from Osama bin Laden's
\nal-Qaeda terrorist network.<\/p>\n
Arroyo, who is visiting the southern Philippines, said she was
\nalso pleased that a cease-fire between the military and the
\nMuslim separatist MILF has been observed to the letter, but added
\nthat striking a final peace accord with the group would take some
\ntime.<\/p>\n
\"I am thanking the MILF because of the cease-fire. And not
\nonly that, when (the world faced) international terrorism, the
\nMILF publicly distanced itself form Osama bin Laden and from the
\nal-Qaeda network,\" Arroyo told a news conference in southern
\nCotabato city broadcast over government radio.<\/p>\n
\"We can really see that the future for peace between the
\ngovernment and the MILF could be reached in the earliest time
\npossible,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Arroyo said on Friday there is no need for the military brass
\nto conduct loyalty checks within their ranks despite rumors of an
\nimpending coup,<\/p>\n
Rumors of a coup were sparked by the murder this week of a
\ncontroversial spokesman of a shadowy military fraternity who had
\nclaimed to have uncovered a plot to destabilize Arroyo's
\ngovernment.<\/p>\n
\"The military and police are highly professional, there is no
\nmoral cause for them to be against the government that the
\nconstitution mandated them to protect,\" Arroyo told a news
\nconference in Cotabato which was broadcast on government radio in
\nManila.<\/p>\n
Arroyo said security officials \"have been doing their job very
\nwell\" and have unmasked \"specific individuals that are implicated
\nin some of these adventurist activities.\"<\/p>\n
She did not give further details, but the president earlier
\nthis week warned coup plotters they would be crushed.<\/p>\n
The armed forces on Thursday also ruled out any prospect of a
\ncoup attempt from within their ranks with military spokesman
\nBrig. Gen. Edilberto Adan saying there is \"no brewing sentiment
\nto create trouble.\"<\/p>\n
The assurance came three days after Baron Cervantes, a self-
\nstyled spokesman of the Young Officer's Union (YOU) was gunned
\ndown in Manila.<\/p>\n
Cervantes had claimed to have uncovered a plot by some active
\nand retired military personalities to destabilize the country.<\/p>\n
The YOU had been involved in past coup attempts against then-
\npresident Corazon Aquino in the late-1980s but its members
\nobtained an amnesty as part of a peace accord forged with the
\ngovernment of Aquino's successor, Fidel Ramos.<\/p>\n
The group's leaders this week also publicly disowned
\nCervantes, saying he was merely a discharged lieutenant and was
\nnever a spokesman for the group.<\/p>\n
Police say his killing may be due to a rift within the YOU but
\nhave not ruled out other motives.<\/p>",
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