Arroyo urges Japan to take wider security role in Asia

Arroyo urges Japan to take wider security role in Asia

MANILA (Agencies): Philippine President Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo left on Wednesday for a visit to Japan, saying her country
is in good hands a day after terrorist attacks on the United
States shook the world.

Arroyo said on Wednesday that during her four-day visit to
Japan she will ask the Japanese to take a wider security role in
Asia following the terrorist attacks in the United States.

"The Philippines supports wider collective responsibility in
security for Japan in the region," Arroyo said before departing
for Tokyo. "This is one message that I will bring to Japan
especially with what is happening in the world today."

Arroyo said she initially considered canceling her trip to
Japan following Tuesday's terrorist attacks in New York and
Washington, but decided against it.

"But if we allow terror to paralyze us, to disrupt our work
and disturb our lives, we shall have yielded to the intent of its
perpetrators," she said. "I assure all Filipinos and all our
friends here in the country that every precaution has been taken
to ensure the safety of our society and our institutions at this
dark hour."

She also said her government will help in the effort "to crush
blind fanaticism and heartless violence."

Arroyo will hold talks with Emperor Akihito and Japanese Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

She said she will express support for "wider collective
responsibility and security for Japan in the region."

She said Japan and China have emerged as the most powerful
nations in the region and the Philippines and others in the
region have a stake "in ensuring that Japan-China relationship
exerts a beneficial influence on the region's economic and
political stability."

Japan is the Philippines' biggest source of official
development assistance and its second-largest trading and
investment partner.

Arroyo will also address the Global Business Dialogue on
Electronic Commerce and a meeting of the Philippines-Japan joint
economic cooperation committee.

Japan will be the fourth country visited by Arroyo since she
took office Jan. 20 after her predecessor, Joseph Estrada, was
forced to step down amid massive anti-corruption protests.

Separatist

In a further development, twelve Muslim separatist guerrillas
were killed and at least 17 others wounded in fresh clashes with
soldiers in the southern Philippines, the military's southern
command said here on Wednesday.

Clashes in the towns of Datu Piang and Mamasapano in
Maguindanao province began on Saturday when soldiers encountered
some 60 heavily armed separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front
(MILF) guerrillas, the military said.

Soldiers in nearby Lanao del Sur province about the same time
also encountered some 30 MILF guerrillas who had refused to
acknowledge a ceasefire recently forged between Manila and their
leaders, it said.

The army pounded rebel positions with rounds of artillery and
gunfire from attack helicopters sent to the area.

The fresh hostilities came just days after MILF leaders had
agreed to pull out of positions in Maguindanao province to avoid
further encounters that could imperil ongoing peace talks.

The 12,500-strong MILF had earlier signed a truce with Manila,
but has also accused the military of provoking hostilities by
encroaching on areas where it maintains a presence.

The MILF is the Philippines' largest remaining Muslim
insurgent group and has waged a 23-year war for the establishment
of an independent Islamic state in the south.

Meanwhile, the head of military forces fighting Muslim
extremist guerrillas in the southern Philippines is being
replaced, military chief Gen. Diomedio Villanueva said on
Wednesday.

The military is being investigated by Congress for failing to
capture or destroy the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas and their leaders
who were cornered in a hospital in with their hostages on June 2.